Another Time
by Karete-chan
Summary: Appologies for the wait. Someone please kick the angsty characacters into doing something. And onlt Kami knows who this Grass guy is.
1. How, what, who in the where now?

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Another Time

By Karete-chan

**Disclaimer: ** I do not own Dragonball, Z, or GT. All elements of these used belong to their creator. I do own anyone I make up.

~thoughts~

Chapter 1: How, what, who in the where now? TC \l1 "

****

The girl woke. Disorientation clouded her mind for a moment. Something should have happened or at least changed. She smiled to herself. ~No, that's what they said I'd think.~

She sat up and looked around. Nothing in the room had changed. Not even the furniture had been shifted. She got off her bunk and made for a large door. Just as she was going to open it, she stopped. ~I wonder how long I slept for?~ She looked down at herself. ~Technically I only put these clothes on yesterday. I should probably change and have a shower.~ She debated the thought for a moment, then turned and went through a smaller door on her left. ~Better to be safe than sorry.~

An hour later when she emerged from the bathroom (when you have long hair this is a very easy time to achieve) she headed straight for the large door and the outside. 

There was no one in the large hallway she stepped into or anyone in the large, domed room at the top of the stairs. ~Strange, someone should have come for me by now but there doesn't seem to be anyone around.~ The high archway that led out into the open was filled with sunlight. The brightness hurt her used-to-the-dark eyes but she headed there anyway, not wanting to be inside any longer.

Again, just as she was about to step through the archway and into the brilliant light, she stopped. Coming from somewhere outside she had caught the faint sound of a voice, one that she didn't recognize. She peered around the corner.

A fair distance away, two figures were standing on the edge of the compound. One she recognized as the loyal servant of her sensei. He was talking to a shorter figure that she didn't recognize. From its build she concluded that this was a child.

Because of the distance she was from them, she could hear them talking but not catch what they were saying. She stayed in the doorway thinking that they would turn and see her at any moment now. She soon came to realize that their conversation was so intense that neither was paying much attention to anything else. She wondered idly if they even knew she was there but decided that they didn't.

Not knowing what the situation was she was wary about wanting to meet this small stranger but a sudden desire to know where her sensei was overcame her caution. She had just taken a step towards them when the child started. She froze. Neither of them turned to watch her and it became evident that it was not she who had caused the distraction in the small form.

Distracted from her original path of seeking her sensei she wondered what had startled the child so. Then she felt it. A growing ki. A ki that was already too high for her to fathom and it was growing. If she hadn't been the girl she was it would have scared her. ~Who the hell is that? No one I know is even remotely close to that level.~ A second thought struck her. ~Are they fighting or sparring?~ She shuddered at the thought of something that needed that much power to bring it down.

She glanced back at the two in the compound. They were suddenly looking very excited. Struggling with the desire to find her sensei, her curiosity got the better of her. She turned and ran back into the domed room and out into the sunlight on the opposite side of the compound. Slowing slightly she concentrated on the massive ki. Then finding the direction it was coming from swayed in her path to face away from the glowing orb in the sky. Without breaking stride she ran to the edge and took off into the beautiful day.

*****

Since flying was such a mundane thing she used her traveling time to concentrate on the massive ki. The day suddenly didn't seem that beautiful anymore. She cursed herself for not being as attentive as her sensei had taught her to be.

Around the massive ki she felt at least fifteen others. None of these were anywhere near the large one but most of them were still very high. It was almost with relief that she realized some of the levels were closer to her own maximum. ~Hmph. I wouldn't have thought I was away long enough for that kind of power to emerge.~

The land below her had turned from a lush green to the harsh yellow of the desert. Then from over a ridge an explosion rang out and dust flew everywhere. She stopped and hovered in mid-air. ~They wouldn't notice me if I flew down but then again it's better to be safe than sorry. Especially in this case.~

She landed on a flattish piece of land away from the dissipating cloud of dust and began to hike towards what seemed to be a large valley. ~Heh, heh~ she grinned ~I'll keep my power level down and they'll never know I was there.~

As she walked she realized that one of the kis had disappeared. She stood in stunned silence. ~Wow. It's completely gone. Which means that this is no sparring match.~ She shuddered. ~Thank Kami my curiosity doesn't wipe all my training. I wouldn't want to be seen by whatever did that.~

Still wanting to see what was going on she ran towards the ridge. As she ran two more kis disappeared. ~Someone is doing some serious business down there.~ She reached the edge and found a boulder to block her from the view of whatever was down in the valley. Then she carefully peered out at the scene in front of her.

Six of the fifteen power levels had gone. From her vantage point she could see one person down in the valley and seven others crouching or lying on another ridge some distance away from her. ~Where are the other two?~ Her answer came as, in the distance a small, black cloud of smoke appeared were a ki had just been.

She slowly started to regret her decision of coming here as she felt that unfathomable ki come towards her. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know what kind of foul creature could hold that kind of energy. ~You baka. If you're careful it won't even know you're here.~ So her curiosity finally getting the better of her, she crept along the ridge trying to find a hiding spot with a better view.

She stopped when she came to within 50 meters of them. From here she could see almost the whole valley. Including another six people huddled in a pile as far away as they could get from the person in the valley without scaling the sheer cliff behind them.

One of them seemed to be pulling his hair out and screaming but he was too far away to be heard. She did a quick scan and saw that most of their power levels were next to nothing so she turned her attention to the person in the valley.

Upon closer inspection she saw that the man (or something that looked like a man) had his back to her. He was tall, a fact that was emphasized by the strange hat he wore on his head. He was dressed in a kind of spotty green as well as black boots and what appeared to be some kind of demented cloak. She was so caught up in wondering who this strange person was that she didn't notice the large ki until it had almost landed.

At first she couldn't believe her eyes. So she blinked. ~My eyes are broken.~ She blinked again. It was a kid. ~Impossible! How could he have this type of power?~ The green guy seemed to share her thoughts, as he took a step back from the boy.

She guessed that the kid was maybe fifteen or so. It was difficult to say because someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make him look like shit. The one thing about him that was unfazed was a golden mass of spiky hair. Not one strand looked out of place. ~Damn. Why couldn't I have hair that did what it was told?~

The kid strode towards the green guy and took something from his hand. She jumped backwards and nearly fell over. He had moved faster than her eyes could follow. That hadn't happened to her since she was little.

The boy tossed the bundle to someone on the ledge. He said something but she was still to far away to hear. His attention had never left the green guy. ~Mine wouldn't either. Always be wary of someone in a gross outfit.~ She laughed hollowly under her breath trying to rid some of the tension in the air around her. Down in the valley a heated exchange of words had begun.

Though she could still sense everybody's flared ki's she could tell that for the moment at least, nothing was going to happen. So she turned her attention to the figures on the cliff top. Unlike the green guy these were all facing in a direction were she could see…well…their faces.

The one the boy had thrown the thing to seemed to be tipping something into his hand. He, like the boy, had golden hair but it was spikier and much longer.

Now that she was paying more attention she saw that two of the others on the cliff top were the same. ~I wonder who they are? Or more, what they are. I've never seen hair like that on one person, let alone four at once. Ooo, maybe they're some kind of fanatical cult.~

The man with the package stared walking towards one of the other golden haired; a tall guy who was lying on the ground. He bent over him for a minute, then stood and went to the other goldie guy. The first thing about this one that caught her attention (apart from his hair) was that he was short. ~Doesn't look any taller than myself.~ She considered herself tall for her age.

She was about to check out the others when something happened that she would never forget. The hair on the guy who was carrying the package changed. It was as if the gel he'd been using had just suddenly worn off.

His hair fell. It was long, past his shoulders and it was now a light purple colour. ~What are these guys?~ Her attention was stolen then as the two in the valley began to fight.

Such a fight she had never seen before. Or rather she didn't see it at all. They were too fast for her eyes to follow. The most amazing thing was that the boy seemed to be winning.

The fight raged until the boy placed a well-timed kick directly into the green man's stomach.

He looked as if he were about to be violently sick. And he was. He transformed before her eyes in to some kind of hideous monster. A girl that looked to be about her age, had been expelled from the green guy's mouth. She lay comatose on the ground as the monster received another beating.

Suddenly the monster began to laugh. ~What the hell has he got to be happy about? He's getting the shit kicked out of him.~

Her question was soon answered as the monster began to swell and she caught the fringes of his words. "…blow up the Earth!"

The boy was now on his knees in front of the monstrosity and it was taunting him, jeering. Then from nowhere the tall blond guy who had been lying on the cliff appeared in between the two fighters. He spoke to the boy, then turned and placed a hand on the swollen belly of the monster. Then they both disappeared. The boy's scream seemed loud even from the distance she was from him.

~By Kami, what is going on here? A young boy with the largest ki I've ever felt, monsters and people who disappear in thin air! I've woken up in a crazy world.~

The fighters almost looked lost now as they just stood around. It gave her another chance to have a good look at them but for some reason she just didn't feel that anything was as important as it was before. It almost felt as if a small part of herself had been stripped bare. She didn't know why.

She had decided to turn and go home when one of the fighters caught her eye. ~It…couldn't be.~

In her excitement she crept out from where she was hiding and sat on the cliff in plain view. Her sensei! That looked like him down there. She concentrated. ~Why can't I sense his ki?~ Taking a closer look she realized that she was wrong. He was far too young to be her sensei, although the resemblance was uncanny. ~But that means that that's…~

Recovering from her excitement she realized that she was sitting in plain view. She cursed and threw herself behind the rock. It was good timing too. Just as she jumped an explosion ripped out behind her.

She turned in time to see an energy beam emerge from the cloud of dust and pass straight through the middle of the purple haired guy. He wasn't quite dead when he hit the ground.

She watched the dust clear to reveal what she already knew: the monster, in his original form. He stood there laughing as if someone had just told an amusing joke. The awful sound was cut short as the boy began gathering his energy again.

Suddenly the purple haired guy moved. This distracted the other fighters, two of whom rushed to help him. ~Why? There's no point, he's too far gone.~

As she swung her attention back to the boy the last thing she expected happened. The short guy from the cliff, whose hair had changed to a midnight black, went nuts. He yelled then flew into the air. He went straight for the monster and as he did so his hair returned to the brilliant golden colour. She swore that for the first time since she had come upon this strange scene, the monster looked genuinely surprised.

It disappeared into another cloud of dust and she could feel the golden haired guy's power draining as he fired beam after beam into the center of the chaos. Almost as quickly as it had begun it finished.

~That's stupid. The monster…~

She didn't even have time to finish her thought. Before she could even breathe, the monster appeared from the dust and Mr. Golden Haired was sprawled in the dirt. He was down, out for the count and a million other corny sayings that mean unconsciousness. He was all of them. At once. 

But that wasn't all. He was about to die.

The beam the monster fired was fast but the boy was faster. Just. He reached his elder look-alike a second before the beam hit.

When the dust cleared she could see that the boy had tried to shield Mr. Golden Haired. They were now lying on top of one another and both unconscious. No, the boy had moved.

He stood shakily, on arm hanging limply at his side. The monster laughed. He could afford to. His power was still intact.

She felt the winds begin to rise again and saw the monster begin to gather energy for another beam. It was going to be huge! There was no way anyone could stop it, let alone the half dead kid that it was aimed at.

She shut her eyes and braced herself for the deadly impact.

After about ten seconds of nothing happening she started feeling stupid and gingerly opened one eye.

The world was still there. She could see the monster in the valley, the glow of a power beam cupped between his hands. He was talking.

~Dammit! He's holding the Earth's fate in his hands and he's having a chat!~ She growled, wanting to throw something at him to make him end this ridiculous game.

She glanced at the boy; he was talking too but it didn't seem to be with the monster. A quick look at the other fighters told her that it wasn't them. A look of bewilderment had taken up residence on each of those faces. 

Then she heard it. Or rather she didn't hear it. In the back of her mind a small part of the emptiness that had appeared was filled in. It made her feel…happier. That wasn't exactly right but it was close enough.

The monster fired. Just before it hit him, the boy fired a beam of his own. The two met and formed a giant sphere of energy that ripped apart the ground around it. ~Beam battle. Now it's just a matter of who gives out first.~

Because of his injuries it was the boy began to back down. The edge of the monster's beam slowly crept forward, enveloping the boy's. ~It's over…~

Once again the emptiness in her head sang with a presence and down in the valley the boy fought back with strength that she didn't think was possible from one who had been beaten so badly. Slowly the size of the boy's beam grew.

She and the other fighters on the cliff had the same thought at that moment. Too big! They all took flight.

Though she sensed that the others had only moved out of range (including Mr. Goldy the Unconscious) she kept flying. ~This is not my fight but if I have to die it will be with people I know.~

She kept tabs on the fight while she flew. ~It's still good to know what's happening.~ She allowed herself a small grin. ~There goes my training taking over again.~

The boy and the monster were back on even ground again. ~Geez kid, I don't know who you are but you wallop that bastard for human kind, hear me?~ She could sense the monster gathering more energy to put into the blast.

Before he could the other fighters joined in. Their efforts were almost futile. They distracted him just long enough for the boy to put the last of his energy into his beam.

As she touched down inside the compound the last of the monsters ki faded away. ~Good. Now I don't have to worry.~ She smiled smugly and went inside.

She walked slowly through the rooms of the house towards her own brightly lit chamber under one end of the compound. She hoped to find something that she had missed, something to tell her what was going on and where on Earth her sensei was but there was nothing.

She finally made up her mind to ask her sensei's servant and to confront the small stranger who had invaded her home.

As she traced the same route as she had earlier that morning, a feeling of dread grew in her mind. ~The fighters! Those guys from the valley. They're coming. They're coming here!~ She ran for her vantage point in the archway and arrived in time to see them land inside the compound. Her sensei's servant and the strange child ran up to them.

The group was in much worse a condition than when she had last seen them. The short Mr. Golden Haired was nowhere to be seen and the boy was hurt badly. So was the man carrying him who had short, black hair and scars on his face but he was at least still able to fly. The tall bald one who had three eyes was carrying the dead purple haired guy. ~This is nuts! Since when do people have three eyes? And why carry around someone who's dead? It's not like they can do much to help him. Maybe the monster knocked their brains loose?~

The group turned and greeted the two figures that were running towards them. ~They know each other?~

The boy was placed on the ground and the child knelt over him. She was then finally able to get a good look at his face. ~What the hell? Where did he come from?~

She didn't have time to wonder as her attention was snared by the dull glow that enveloped both the child and the boy. When it faded the boy opened his eyes and sat up.

~Amazing! Who would entrust a child with such a power?~

The small boy (at least she assumed he was a boy) then moved to each of the others in turn but glided silently past the prone body of the purple haired guy. His last patient was the girl who had been expelled from inside the monster. She had pale blonde hair and was being carried by a short bald guy who seemed to have no nose. As soon as she woke up she jumped into a defensive position. She seemed wary of the others and the guy with the scars was not so subtlety keeping his distance.

Words were said but blondie didn't seem to want to hang around. She watched as the girl ran to the edge of the compound and flew over the edge. ~This can't be happening~ she screamed silently ~I didn't even sense a ki for her!~

She was so wrapped up in what a weird world she had woken up in that she didn't notice the sky grow dark. When it finally dawned on her, the first thing that caught her eye was a growing mass near the gathered fighters.

She did a double take. ~Dragonballs? They're summoning the dragon. Not just anyone can do that! Why isn't Kami stopping this?~ She didn't have time to wonder as the massive shape of the Eternal Dragon Shenlon filled the sky. A small movement caught her eye. ~His hand. He moved!~

The purple haired guy sat up. He looked at the eternal dragon with awe and she was sure that look mirrored her own. He made his way over to the others who seemed to be discussing about another wish. ~They can't do that. Kami told me that the dragon only grants one wish and they've already used it to bring back that guy.~

She stopped. There it was again. The voice that was there but wasn't. It filled the space in her mind. A warm feeling spread over her and she became lost in the moment. When she was next able to focus, the dragon was gone and the emptiness had returned to that corner of her mind. ~They must've made their wish. I wonder what it was?~

The group was now just milling around again and blondie had returned. ~How does she do that? Why can't I sense her ki? This is so annoying!~ She sighed and wished she could hear what they were saying.

The short bald guy and blondie were talking. ~I've seen that look on his face somewhere before.~ The kid entered the conversation and then received a knock on the back of his head from a scarlet faced bald guy. ~He's embarrassed? That's it! He likes blondie. The mystery of these people grows deeper.~ She laughed silently. ~I am so pathetic.~

She watched them talk for a while longer as one by one they all took off into the sky. Soon only the child, her sensei's servant and the guy that looked like her sensei were left. The depressed feeling that she had back on the battlefield began to envelop her again and she started to become seriously pissed off.

~This world is nuts! Monsters, super powerful kids, people with no ki. I expected some things to have changed but not this much.~ She glared at the guy that looked like her sensei. ~I don't care how much stronger he is. If he doesn't tell me what's going on then I'm going to beat the crap out of him.~

As the small group approached the house she stepped into the sunlight to meet them.


	2. We should’ve seen this coming

Another Time

By Karete-chan

****

****

**Chapter 2: We should've seen this coming**

If she hadn't been so angry the look on their faces would have been amusing. Something very close to shock featured on all of them. Her sensei's servant quickly turned his to alarm.

She was about to demand to know who the strangers were when she suddenly remembered a very important fact that the day's events had pushed to the back of her mind. ~He's not allowed to be here.~ She crouched into a fighting stance.

For the first time that day she spoke. "You're not supposed to be here, Piccolo." Her voice rang clear and confident across the open space. It was obvious she was used to getting her way.

The tall green man then did the last thing she expected. He smiled. A very small smile. It was short lived as the face of her sensei's servant, Mr. Popo, obscured her vision.

His well-refined voice broke through her anger. "No, you do not understand. Piccolo is no danger."

"What?" Her eyes flicked back to the green giant. "The Piccolo I know is a ruthless killer."

"There are many things you don't know anymore."

~No shit, Sherlock.~ She was in a bad mood but she stayed silent. Mr. Popo never lied. Slowly she relaxed her stance but kept her eyes on Piccolo.

"Mr. Popo", she forced herself to be calm. "What is going on and who were all those people? No-one is supposed to be up here. And where is Kami?"

She allowed her self a quick glance at the short man. His eyes were downcast and he stayed silent. Instead her answer came from the one she least expected.

The child spoke with a confidence that was rarely seen in one so young. "I think that before we give you answers, you should tell us who you are."

"No." The voice of Piccolo fell on everyone's ears. "That won't be necessary. I know who she is."

All three pairs of eyes turned to look at her.

"How can you know who I am? You never came up here."

"Like Mr. Popo said, there's a lot you don't know anymore. Or ever did." He smirked.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, giving him a wary look.

Piccolo rolled his eyes. "It was too much to hope you'd changed." The child looked between Piccolo and herself, looking as bewildered as she felt. "I think it's time someone told you what was going on, Kat."

*****

Piccolo sighed. He had talked well into the night and he was tired. ~I never knew that yapping could tire you so much.~ He turned to look at the girl. She was sitting on the edge of the compound, dangling her legs over the side. He knew that this was a favorite place of hers to sit in. Dende was with her. She still refused to speak but otherwise Piccolo thought that she had taken the news well. Though he doubted that she would have believed him had Mr. Popo not been there agreeing with every word he said.

Kami should have told her sooner but Piccolo conceded that he had done a good job with her. Possibly a better one than he would have with Gohan. She was no fool. Which was surprising considering.

His mind flashed back to the previous day. He'd had the surprise of his life when she had stepped out of that doorway. Memories that hadn't been his flashed across his mind about who this strange girl was. ~Yeah Kami did a good job with her but there really were some things he should have mentioned.~

He sighed and began to meditate.

*****

Dende watched. He was good at that. The girl hadn't moved in an hour and no matter how hard he tried to speak to her, she just ignored him. So he watched and took notice.

From what he had seen so far she could get angry very quickly but was able to control it (barely) in the face of reason. She was almost as strong as some of the Z fighters but that wasn't surprising considering the story her just heard.

He studied her face again. Nothing. No emotion played across her features. ~What could she be thinking? How were you supposed to act when you received news like that?~ He looked in the direction she was staring. No, he hadn't missed anything; there was nothing in the clear blue sky. Movement caught his eye.

Kat had bowed her head and shut her eyes. The she sighed.

"You're wondering what I'm thinking," she said without looking at him.

"Yes," replied Dende.

She turned to look at him. "It was Dende, wasn't it?"

He nodded.

"Well then, Dende, I was thinking about how something so unbelievable and far-fetched could possibly be true. Especially when I know that it is."

"How do you know?" the young Namek asked. He watched as her dark eyes studied his face. It was a while before her answer came.

"Because Mr. Popo never lies," she paused. "But also because that far-fetched and unbelievable story explains a lot."

"How?"

She stuck him with a penetrating gaze causing him to sit back. ~How do they do that?~

"You're a nosy one aren't you? Still I suppose it is part of the job description," she smiled sadly. "And you've already heard the rest."

She sighed and the smile vanished. "From what I can understand some, no most, of the things that happened in my childhood, that made me feel so out of place was because of a past I didn't know I had," she shook her head and laughed hollowly. "Next time 'round I'll know to ask more questions," she jerked her head up. "Speaking of which…."

Before Dende could stop her she was halfway across the compound striding towards Piccolo. He hurried after her.

*****

As Kat approached, Piccolo looked up.

"Hmm, I'm going to have to teach you how to hide your ki better."

She stopped a few feet from him. "I don't think that lessons are the best way to go at the moment. Besides I did a pretty good job when I was watching the fight."

He shot her a look. "We were a bit occupied," he replied dryly. "And since when do you refuse lessons?"

She ignored him. "You never answered my question before."

"I should think you had been given enough information to last a lifetime."

"But it didn't answer my question."

Piccolo smiled to himself. "My, you lot are impatient."

"I don't have a _lot_," she huffed.

"You do. You just haven't met them yet," he paused. "I already told you who they were."

"But you didn't tell me who was who and what they were doing."

He looked at her incredulously. "You couldn't work out who they were yourself? You must be slipping, Kat."

"Give me a break, I've had enough to think about."

Piccolo looked at the girl that he had only met yesterday but had known for almost her whole life. ~She never would have been this rude to Kami.~ He snorted by way of answer.

"I'm assuming the bad guy was the one with the bad fashion sense. The one in green and black?" 

"You should never assume anything," he said automatically then sighed. "But yes. They were fighting Perfect Cell. The latest bastard from a long list of bastards who have tried to destroy the Earth. Or at least those who live on it. Well one person who lived here anyway."

"Why destroy a whole world to get at one person?"

Piccolo eyed her carefully. "Gokou managed to make lots of enemies while he was alive," he snorted. "I should know, I used to be one."

"So then that was Gohan who destroyed Cell?" she whistled. "He only looked about fifteen."

"He's only eleven."

"E…eleven?" she sat down heavily. "He…he's just a kid."

Piccolo nodded. He waited for her to process the information. Slowly she turned to face him again.

"So," she said. "Who were the other two with the hair thing?"

"They would be Vegeta and his son Trunks. The 'hair thing' as you call it is what they call Super Saiya-jin. And here's a piece of advice kid. Don't refer to it as the 'hair thing' in front of Vegeta. Not unless you want to be in a great deal of pain."

"Thanks…I think. And?"

"And what?"

"Well, which one's which?"

"Trunks is the one with the purple hair."

"Right. What about the others?"

Piccolo sighed, this was worse than Twenty Questions. "Yamcha was the one with hair, the other two are Krillen and Tien. Krillen is the short one."

Kat shut her eyes and mumbled to herself. "Yamcha…had scars, Tein…three eyes and Krillen…he was the one with no nose and the crush on…" she looked up. "Who was the girl?"

"That used to be one of our problems. She's an android. Goes by the name of Juuhachi-gou."

"Number eighteen? Why was she a problem?"

"Because she was a contender on 'I want to destroy everything' before Cell showed up. I doubt she'll try anything now. Not with Gohan around."

"Oh." She went back to staring into space.

"Piccolo?" said Dende.

"What?"

"Why didn't Kami tell her earlier?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"I thought you fused with Kami," said Kat quietly. "Wouldn't that give you his memories? Of course maybe it doesn't. You certainly didn't inherit his personality."

"Kami and Piccolo had a deal…"

She rounded on him. "You are Piccolo."

"No, I'm not. I took his name and his form for the convenience of the moment. What use would an old man have been?"

"So you do have his memories."

"It's selective. I know things he knows but I don't know the reasons behind the actions."

Sighing Kat stood up. "I need to digest this a bit more. I'll be in my room if you remember anything else that may change my life drastically." She turned and almost walked straight into Mr. Popo.

"Where've you been Popo?" asked Piccolo. Kat scowled at his lack of respect.

"I thought," the small man said. "That Kat may like something to eat before she retires."

Kat's ears immediately pricked up. "Food? Where?"

Mr. Popo beckoned her over to the house and she followed. Piccolo turned to Dende. "Well if we had any doubt about who she is, we don't now." Dende struggled to stifle a giggle.

*****

Kat didn't wake up until the following morning. ~Ugh. I slept too long; I'm all stiff and my head hurts.~ She splashed some water on her face then headed outside.

She found Piccolo and Dende where she had left them yesterday. They were conversing in low voices but looked up when she approached.

"Good morning," said Dende cheerily. Piccolo merely nodded in her general direction.

"Good morning, Dende," she replied pointedly. Piccolo snorted.

"Have you decided what you want to do?" asked the small Namek.

"I think so," she sighed. "I mean, it's a bit pointless learning all about these people and then not going to meet them. Of course I just can't show up and announce who I am. By the sounds of it I'd just get my head ripped off. Which means I'd have to take someone they know with me who knows the whole sorry story," she looked over at Piccolo. "And the only person who does is grumpy here."

"That's Mr. Grumpy to you, smart mouth," came Piccolo's reply. "I'll take you but not today."

"Why not?"

He gave her another one of his looks. "We just fought the biggest battle of our lives and you want to go and annoy them two days later? Some things take time to get over. Besides, you've already waited all this time. What are a few more days? Plus Gohan won't be allowed to see anyone on a weekday. He has to study."

"You make it sound like a bad thing."

"What?"

"Studying. What's wrong with that?"

Piccolo smirked. "Kid, you're going to fit right in."

*****

Dende watched as Kat performed a series of back flips followed by a flawless spin kick. Just watching her train was giving him a headache. ~How do they move so fast without getting dizzy?~ She stared kicking and punching at thin air. ~I wonder if they know how funny they look when they're not actually fighting anyone?~

"Will you stop gawking?" came the annoyed voice of Kat.

"Huh?"

"Stop watching me. It's annoying having someone stare at you for so long."

"Maybe he's staring because he's never seen anyone fight as badly as you before," said Piccolo as he came out of the house.

She turned on him. "There's nothing wrong with the way I fight."

"Possibly. But you could be better. At the level you're at now even Mr. Satan could beat you."

"Satan? Who's he?"

"He's the current Martial Arts Tournament champion. He was at the fight. Didn't do much though."

"But there weren't any other fighters except for you guys. The only other people there were pathetically weak...oh, ha ha, very funny."

"You said it not me."

"You tricked me into saying that. I'm not weak," she fumed.

Piccolo smirked and folded his arms. "I suppose I'll have to bring you up to speed. I've got nothing else to do."

"Oh, I suppose that if you did have something to do I wouldn't be worth training," she said, turning her back on him.

"Did you want to spar or not?" He was starting to get annoyed with her.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" she asked as she prepared her first attack.

*****

Two nights later Kat collapsed on to her bunk. "Damn. I'm never going to move again." There was a knock at her door. She didn't look up. "What?" she yelled. Mr. Popo entered the room. Kat jumped. "Mr. Popo! I didn't realize it was you. I'm sorry for yelling."

He chuckled. "It's okay Kat. You've had a hard day."

"No kidding. I feel like a brick has been thrown at my head." She flopped back onto her bunk.

"Piccolo, I think, is somewhat worse than a brick. He's more like a whole truck full," he chuckled again. "He asked me to tell you that he would take you to see them tomorrow."

"Why didn't he just tell me himself?"

"He mentioned something about trying to remember. Anyway I had to let you know that dinner was ready."

She jumped up all pain forgotten. "You're too good, you know that Mr. Popo?"

He just smiled.

*****

Piccolo found Kat standing at the edge of the compound. "Are you ready to go?"

"I suppose." She had her hair up in a ponytail and it swished around her shoulders as she turned to face him. He eyed her, she looked different today and it wasn't because of the hair. She had her arms wrapped around her and she kept her eyes on the ground.

~She's nervous?~ "Are you sure?"

She took a deep breath, dropped her arms and looked him in the eye. "Yes."

"Let's go then." He took off in to the sky and she followed, pausing just long enough to turn and wave goodbye to Dende. She really didn't feel well. Nervousness was something of a rare occurrence to her. She sighed and followed the small speck in the sky that was Piccolo.

*****

As the domed roof of Son Gokou's house came into view Piccolo suddenly wondered what would happen if nobody believed them. He wasn't so much worried about Gohan but about ChiChi. Sure he had evidence but that meant he had to rely on Vegeta. Now probably wasn't the best time to tell them but Kat had been growing restless and he supposed that she owed it to her to meet them. He smirked as he thought of what ChiChi and Kat would make of each other. As he got closer he could see a small figure waving madly at him. It couldn't be anyone but Gohan. ~Yeah, yeah, kid I see you.~

He landed and Gohan immediately ran up to him. "Piccolo-san!"

"Hey kid."

"I didn't think we'd see you so soon."

"Yeah well someone's gotta look out for you."

Gohan laughed.

"Hey kid, is ChiChi around?"

"Mum? No she went to the market with grandpa…hey, who's that?"

Piccolo turned around in time to see Kat land just meters away. She had her eyes locked on Gohan, looking at him in wonder.

"That is the reason I wanted to know if ChiChi was here."

Gohan looked at him quizzically. "Why'd you bring a girl here Piccolo?" he asked. "Is she yours?" he added mischievously.

"No!"

Gohan fell over laughing at the look on Kat's face. "Sorry Piccolo-san but you should see her face. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so horrified."

Piccolo growled. "You're pushing it kid."

"Sorry Piccolo-san *giggle*, I'm all right now."

Piccolo beckoned to Kat and she walked over to them. She watched as Gohan turned to get a better look at her. After minute he screwed up his face in concentration.

"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before," he said.

"Hello to you too," she replied.

"Oh excuse me." He held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Gohan."

She took it. "I know. My name is Kat."

"So we have met." His face brightened.

"No, this is the first time."

"But I know I've seen you somewhere before." He studied her face again. "In fact if I didn't know better I'd say you looked like…"

"…your dad," finished Piccolo.

"Yeah," said Gohan slowly. "How did you know I was going to say that?"

"Because she does."

Gohan turned to face him. "Huh?"

Piccolo sighed. ~Here we go.~ "She looks like your dad because she's his sister."

"What!?" Gohan swung around to look at Kat. Her face remained blank. "That's impossible Piccolo-san. I mean Vegeta said there aren't any Saiya-jin left. And look at her. Even if she was from the future like Trunks she's too young."

"Then you're not going to like what I have to say next."

Gohan looked at him. "What?"

"They're twins." There was an audible thump as the strongest warrior on Earth fainted.


	3. Plot, plot Let me think Where did we p...

Another Time

By Karete-chan

Chapter 3: Plot, plot. Let me think. Where did we put it? TC \l1 "

Gohan groggily came back to the real world. He opened his eyes and saw two faces looking expectantly down at him.

"Hmph," said Piccolo. "You are your mothers child after all." He and Kat stood up to give Gohan some room.

He sat up. "Did I really hear what you just said?"

" 'Fraid so kid."

Gohan turned piercing eyes on Kat. Her face remained blank. "You better not have just made this up."

"I didn't. Besides I only found out a couple of days ago and it was Mr. Compassionate here who told me." She jerked a thumb in Piccolo's direction.

"You watch that mouth brat," growled Piccolo.

Kat rolled her eyes. "Some people can't take a joke," she muttered.

"You told _her_ Piccolo? How do you know?"

"Kami."

"Kami? What's he got to do with this?"

"A lot actually but I think explanations can wait for a while. Or at least until your mum gets here."

"But she might be ages!"

"I can hear a car coming Gohan and I don't think you get that many people out this way."

Sure enough, two minutes later ChiChi and her father pulled up at the house. 

"Gohan!" ChiChi called as she got out of the car. "We're back."

She and her father walked around to the side door. The look on ChiChi's face wasn't one of happiness when she saw Piccolo or the complete stranger with him, both of whom were standing next to her precious little boy who was on the ground.

"Gohan! What have they done to you?" she cried running to him. "They haven't hurt you have they?" She didn't wait for his answer and started to check for injuries.

"Mum, I'm fine," said Gohan, squirming out of her grip. "I just fell over, that's all."

"Are you sure?" she asked, eyeing Piccolo and the strange girl.

"Yes. I'm fine."

ChiChi looked as if she seriously doubted it. A cheery voice broke the silence.

"Piccolo, good to see you," said the Ox King. Piccolo nodded politely in return. "And who is this?" he said, rounding on Kat. "Let me introduce myself. I'm the Ox King and this is my daughter ChiChi."

"Her name is Kat," filled in Gohan.

"The Ox King? I've heard of you," said Kat.

"You have? Well it's good to see that today's kids still pay some attention to their parents."

There was a slight flicker in Kat's blank expression. "I don't have parents." Her voice was void of emotion.

There was an awkward pause. The Ox King broke it.

"Well where did you come from then?" he asked with a chuckle, trying to break the tension.

"That's what Piccolo was about to explain when you came home," Gohan answered seriously.

All eyes turned to Piccolo.

"Oh. Your girl is she Piccolo?" asked ChiChi, an eyebrow raised.

"Please mum, we don't want to got there again, trust me."

"I'll take that as a no then," she paused. "Well?"

"I've already told the story once and I don't want to repeat it every time someone else comes along. So that means if you want to hear it you're going to have to follow me to Bulma's," said Piccolo.

"Yeah, I'm not worth wasting breath on," muttered Kat. Piccolo glared at her.

"I'm not leaving in the middle of the day just to follow you around," fumed ChiChi.

"Believe me mum we want to follow." ChiChi turned to protest but stopped when she saw the look on Gohan's face.

He was staring at Kat with suspicion. It was as if he couldn't really believe that she was standing there.

"Well that settles it then," said the Ox King. "I'll drive." He looked at Gohan. "Maybe Gohan should ride with us."

"I think that would be a good idea," agreed Piccolo, eyeing Gohan's face.

He and Kat waited until the family was in the car then took to the air.

*****

It was a fair drive to Capsule Corporation and Piccolo didn't want to arrive before Gohan so he and Kat kept pace with the car as it wound its way out of the forest and on to the highway.

This suited Kat fine. It gave her a good chance to look around. ~It's all changed so much. There never used to be houses out this far.~ She scowled inwardly ~There's also less forest. Hmph, you'd think people would learn.~

Down in the car ChiChi watched Gohan with apprehension. He kept looking out the window for Piccolo and Kat. "Gohan? Honey? Did Piccolo say anything about that girl before we got home?"

That seemed to bring him out of his gazing. "He …did but…"

"But what?"

He turned to face his mother. ~I wonder how she'll take it. It's not exactly the best time to spring this on her.~ He sighed. "It…well it wasn't that…well it was but…" he looked away, "I just think we should wait until we get to Bulma's." ChiChi exchanged a glance with her father who just shrugged.

*****

As they landed in the grounds of Capsule Corporation Kat looked around in wonder. "I've always wanted to come here."

"What?" Piccolo looked at her.

"Huh?" she came out of her daze, "oh, nothing, just thinking aloud." They waited until the Sons had joined them then went and knocked on the door.

Bulma's muffled voice could be heard on the other side. "I'll get it mum! *crash* Ouch! Damn toys! Why haven't the robots picked them up?"

She opened the door. "Oh, hey guys what's up?" It took her a moment to figure out why they were staring at her. She carefully unwrapped the pull-along truck from her ankle.

"Are you ok Bulma?" asked Gohan.

"I'm fine, we're just having some problems with some of the new robots that's all," she beckoned them to follow her, "Anyway what brings you guys here? Not that you're not welcome of course." She grinned.

"Well that would be mystery girl here," said ChiChi. "Piccolo wouldn't tell us who she was until we came here so you could hear it too."

Bulma peered around the others and gave Kat a wave. "Hi, I didn't see you there. I'm Bulma."

"She's Kat," said Piccolo stepping into Bulma's view. "Look, I want to get this over and done with so I can get out of here. Unfortunately to do that Vegeta has to be here. Can you go get him?"

"As courteous as ever I see. Vegeta's training, if you want to see him so badly you go get him. What's the big rush anyway?"

"Please Bulma?" said Gohan. "It's important."

She threw up her hands. "Oh, all right."

They followed Bulma out into the backyard where her mother was reading. Mrs. Briefs looked up when they walked out and immediately insisted that she make them lunch. Kat and Gohan's ears picked up at this but they were forced to follow the others across the yard to a large sphere on stilts. Bulma went to the door and fiddled with a control panel on the side. There was a crash from inside and then the sound of cursing. Bulma retreated from the door seconds before it was flung open.

"What the hell do you think you're doing woman?" yelled Vegeta. "You know not to interrupt my training."

She eyed him coolly. "I'm not interrupting it. They are." She pointed over her shoulder.

He turned on them. "How dare you bakas interrupt me!"

"Calm down," said Piccolo. "You think we would be happy that we brought you one of your subjects."

"I'm not anyone's subject!" cried Kat.

"What the hell are you talking about you green moron? And who the hell is she?"

"That's what we'd like to know," replied ChiChi dryly.

"Guys, guys, truce," said Gohan. "Vegeta-san you really do want to hear this."

"Quiet boy. When I want advice from Kakarott's brat I'll ask for it."

"Kakarott? Who's Kakarott?" asked Kat.

"He means Gokou," said Piccolo. "And if he would shut up then I might be able to explain who you are." He sat down.

Kat and Gohan followed suit and waited for the others to catch on.

Piccolo looked at everybody. "I want to tell this once and only once and that means no interruptions, got it?" Slowly they all nodded and Kat began to feel like she wanted to crawl into a hole.

"Right." He pointed at Kat. "Her name is Kat. She is Saiya-jin. More to the point she is Son Gokou's twin sister."

ChiChi gasped and put her hands over her face. "That's impossible."

"No interruptions," growled Piccolo. Kat noticed that everyone now had their eyes glued to her, especially Vegeta but he was the only one whose face wasn't in complete shock. It had remained blank.

"She didn't know any of this until four days ago when she confronted me after the Cell Games. If you're wondering how I know it's because of…"

"…Kami,' finished Gohan. He earned himself a look.

"Yes. Kami found her, named her and brought her up. She has lived at his place since she was a year old. He trained her but never told her who she was. He brought her up as a human, sent her to school and all that crap. He took her tail so she wouldn't stand out in the crowds." There was an audible growl from Vegeta. "When she…"

Quietly Kat asked, "Why?"

"Don't interrupt."

"No. I want to know why and don't give me that crap about not being able to remember. Selective memories my ass." She fixed him with her gaze.

"He didn't tell you because he believed that it would just cause problems for you. Especially after he found out about Gokou as well and the way the two of you behaved. But you were only a baby and he was a soft old fool. He thought that if he changed your entire environment then you could live a normal life. We were lucky that he was right. He should have just hit you on the head. We can't all have freak accidents like Gokou."

"In other words he should have just killed me."

"Yes."

"Piccolo, that's horrible. She was just a child," said Bulma.

He glared at her. "Remember when he came here?" he nodded at Vegeta. "When she was old enough she would have done exactly what he came here to do. Destroy everything. She would have been out of control. Like I said, we were just lucky that the old fool was right. She was bad enough as it was until she worked out that they weren't going to let her do whatever she wanted."

There was silence as they let this sink in.

"Piccolo-san?" said Gohan. "You said that she was dads twin. Isn't it usual for twins to be the same age? Look at her. She's too young."

This got everyone's attention.

"That's a point," said Bulma. "She's still a kid." She turned to Kat. "How old are you?"

Kat looked at the blue haired woman. "I'm sixteen."

"See, then it can't be true. Gokou was what? Thirty or so?"

Kat sighed and looked away. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Huh? How can you defy a law of nature?"

"You should take over now," Piccolo said to Kat. "This only happened last week for you."

She nodded and turned back to the group. "I don't know what's true about the rest of the story, apart from that Kami did bring me up but I do know why I'm so young." She sighed. "Kami had a vision. It involved me in some way that was really important. He wouldn't tell me what. He said that I had looked about the same age as I am now and I was with some other people he knew and some that he didn't. The only problem with that was that these people were older than me when they shouldn't have been. I remember that he tried for weeks to work it out. Eventually he came to a decision." She looked up at the sky. "He looked so sad when he told me. He wanted to put me in some kind of a time chamber."

"The Hyperbolic Time chamber? But you can only spend two years of your whole life there before you become trapped," said Gohan.

"It wasn't the Hyperbolic Time chamber. It was a temporary one created around my person. Time inside it would stop while time on the outside would continue as normal."

"Like suspended animation!" exclaimed Bulma.

"Yes exactly."

"But who let you out?"

Kat thought a moment. "Me, I suppose. Kami said that my mind would know the right time to wake. So since I'm walking around now I guess this is it."

"How many years were you in there?"

"Fourteen," said Piccolo.

"Fourteen years," whistled Bulma. "You poor kid."

"Don't feel sorry for me. It was like I just went to sleep one night and woke up the next morning." She paused. "Except it looks like I woke up in the middle of a nightmare."

Bulma caught the sad look that flashed across Kat's face. ~That's not why I feel sorry for you kid. I could not imagine what it would be like to find out you had family after all those years and then to top it off find you had a twin whose death you witnessed but didn't know it.~

"Bull." Everybody looked at Vegeta. "It's all a load of crap."

"But Vegeta, look at her. She looks just like him," Bulma paused. "Except that she's a girl."

"How the hell did the old man know?"

"The tail might have been a giveaway," said Bulma dryly.

"If there was a tail. How do we know the jolly green giant here isn't making up stories?"

"Because," Kat said quietly, looking Vegeta in the eye. "Mr. Popo was there when Piccolo told me the story and he was agreeing with every word."

This seemed to take Vegeta aback. "Hmph. So you say. But even if you are Saiya-jin how did the old fool know that you were Kakarott's sister of all people?"

"He found her in her pod," replied Piccolo. "There was a picture of the two of them."

"Pods don't have pictures in them. They were used for transport only."

"If you don't believe me take a look for yourself. It's hidden in a cave. Not far from here actually." He stood up. "I've told my part and the kid knows the rest so I'm going."

Kat's head jerked up sharply. ~He's just going to leave me here with people I don't know?~

As if he had read her thoughts he turned to her and said, "You'll be fine. Besides you need to spend time with them."

"Are you saying I can't come back to Kami's place?" she asked, wide eyed.

"No but you should be with your own people. Plus Dende doesn't need you distracting him at the moment. He has work to do."

"Fine," she huffed and turned her back on him.

"Brat," he said and took off.

"Bye Piccolo-san!" called Gohan.

"Well," said Bulma. "He didn't leave much room for discussion did he?" Then her eyes lit up. "Let's go find this pod. It should be interesting."

*****

It took them two hours to find the cave that Piccolo was talking about. The Pod was nestled inside with the friction marks of where it entered the atmosphere still visible on its sides. Bulma immediately ran to it trying figure out how the door opened. Vegeta came up behind her and just ripped it off.

Inside on a chair that would have been far too large for a baby was a square of white. Bulma picked it up and turned it over. On the other side was a hastily drawn but very accurate picture of what must have been Kat as a baby, in what must have passed for a crib in Saiya-jin society. Next to her lay what was unmistakably a baby Son Gokou.

"So it is true," whispered Bulma as she handed the tattered picture to Kat. 

Kat looked at it for a minute then carefully folded it and put it in her pocket. Her face was devoid of any emotion. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope, just the controls and stuff," Bulma turned around; she was in her element now.

"Move woman," said Vegeta suddenly.

"What? Why? I just want to see how it works."

"I already know how it works, so get out of the way."

"Oh so sorry Mr. I Know Everything."

Kat could see a vein in Vegeta's head start pulsing. "Look it's my pod. Why don't I try and work it out?"

Bulma and Vegeta looked at her, then at each other. Bulma shrugged.

"Fine," snarled Vegeta. "But if you break any of that equipment you'll be sorry."

"Blah, blah," muttered Kat as she walked forward. She heard Bulma suppress a laugh.

She sat in the pods only seat, which was still too big for her even after all these years. ~Must be a one size fits all thing.~ She faced the controls. She was very aware that everyone could see exactly what she was doing through the open door. She hit a couple of buttons. Nothing happened.

"There, you tried. Now get out," said Vegeta.

"Hold your horses, sheesh, I'm not finished yet." She sat back. ~What's the one thing people always forget when they get a new car?~ She looked around. There was a control panel, a screen, two small windows, a hole where the door should have been and…her hand brushed something. She looked down.

Beside the seat was another small panel. She opened it. ~Of course. Even if they're switched on cars won't move unless you take the handbrake off.~ She smiled and pushed at the large red switch that screamed 'ON' in all its tacky obviousness.

The screen in front of her came to life. She began typing and watched as mounds of data started filling the screen. She started using commands to sort through it. "Huh. It's no good. It's all been scrambled or something. I can't make out a word."

Vegeta appeared in the doorway. "Let me see."

Kat got up to allow Vegeta to sit in the pod. "Hmph. Stupid girl. It's in Saiya-go." He started scrolling through the screens.

There was silence for a few minutes as Vegeta read the screens. Bulma started tapping her foot impatiently. It grated on ChiChi's nerves. She hadn't said anything in a while and it had just occurred to her that she was in shock. Her father hadn't said much either but he only felt that it wasn't his place.

Gohan had stopped watching Kat like she was going to attack them at any moment and was listening with great interest at what was being said.

Vegeta finally spoke. "Well. It seems as if the Namek was telling the truth. You are Kakarott's sister." He frowned. "According to this you shouldn't be here."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The weakest of our race were always sent away when they were babies; for their 'protection'. You weren't have supposed to have left until the day after Kakarott but someone saw fit to send you early and to the same planet. Either someone was a complete fool or you are the luckiest Saiya-jin alive."

"Why? Because I happened to get sent to the same planet as my brother?"

"No," Vegeta looked at her. "Because on the morning of the day you were to be sent out, Frieza destroyed the planet. That means you join a short list of survivors. Five of whom are now dead."

Kat paled. "How…how many survived?"

"Seven. Including you."

Kat sat down. "Seven?" she whispered. Her heart sank. For years she had hoped that one day she would find her parents. Now with discovery that she did have some family her hopes had unceremoniously been thrown out the window.

"Kat? Kat are you OK?" asked Bulma, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Kat jumped at the touch and her face immediately returned to her impassive blank mask. "Yes. I'm fine."

Vegeta meanwhile had been ignoring the whole thing. He was still typing through the screens of data. "Baka woman. Stop calling her Kat."

"What? Why?" Bulma poked her head into the pod.

"Because that's not her name."

"What the hell do you mean that's not my name?" Kat's head appeared next to Bulma's.

Gohan spoke up. "I get it. It's like how dad has a Saiya-jin name and the one that Grandfather Gohan gave him."

Vegeta looked at the young half-Saiya-jin. "Sometimes I wonder if your mother didn't have an affair boy. I find it hard to believe that that just came out of the mouth of Kakarott's brat."

Before ChiChi could say anything Kat cut in. "As much as we love to hear you making fun of my brother, do you mind telling me what my name is supposed to be?"

Vegeta glared at her then turned back to the screen. "Your name…is…" he pressed a few more buttons, "…Karete." **_(Author's note: pronounced ca – reet )_**

"Karete?" she snorted. "I think I'll stick to Kat if that's OK with you."

Vegeta got out of the pod. "Your name is Karete so that is what you will be called." He walked past her as if that was the end of the conversation.

"What gives you the right to tell me what to do?" she yelled after him. This was getting to be too much. "How do we know that you didn't just make all of that crap up?"

Vegeta froze. He slowly turned and walked back towards her. He sneered at her and she glared right back. The cave had gone unnaturally quiet. They were almost nose-to-nose when he hit her. A backhand across the face sent her crashing into the solid rock wall of the cave. She fell to the floor and tried to raise herself on her arms. She looked up to see Vegeta standing over her looking murderous.

"I have the right," he said in a whisper. "You third class piece of shit, because I am the Saiya-jin no Ouji."

She slowly got to her feet and looked him in the eyes. "So what do you expect me to do?" she snarled. "Grovel at your feet, O Prince of a dead race?"

She didn't see the fist that hit her. He moved too fast. She was on the ground again and in a world of pain. She wanted to fight back but he was too strong. She tried not to cry put in pain. Against the background of muffled thumps she could hear people calling out and she felt Vegeta being pulled off her. It had finished as almost as soon as it had begun. She slowly raised her head. Gohan was holding a fuming Vegeta while Bulma screamed in his face. ChiChi and her father were staring silently back and forth between Vegeta and herself. Shakily she got to her feet. She immediately fell down again. Bulma was suddenly at her side.

"Don't try and move, he roughed you up pretty badly."

Kat tried to push her away. "I'm fine. Just a bit shaky," she stood up again and immediately started coughing. She could feel a small trickle of blood travel down the side of her mouth. "Heh," she said with a small smile. "Won't be trying that again in a hurry. I …" she stopped as she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. "I should've taken Piccolo seriously. Heh."

Bulma helped her out of the cave and into the car. The Sons joined them. Bulma had another heated discussion with Vegeta which resulted in them traveling back to Capsule Corp. while Vegeta flew. Kat tried very hard not to bleed on the seats.


	4. There has to be a plot somewhere

Another Time

****

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 4: There has to be a plot somewhere.**

When they arrived back Bulma immediately ran inside while Gohan and his grandfather helped Kat out of the car. She shrugged them off and managed to take three steps before she fell.

Vegeta sneered. "Pathetic third class weakling." He turned and walked around the side of the house.

Kat glared at the back of his retreating form. "Asshole," she muttered.

She lent on Gohan's shoulders as they guided her into the house and down to Capsule Corp.'s medical lab. Bulma was bustling around a large machine that had tubes and pipes of various sizes running in and out of it. "Put her in," Bulma called to Gohan. "She should only need half an hour or so."

"What is it?" asked Kat as Gohan helped her into the machine.

"It's a rejuvenation tank," answered Bulma.

"I've never seen one before."

"No," the older woman replied. "You wouldn't have. It's Saiya-jin technology and they don't openly advertise."

"Heh. That's funny. Beaten up by a Saiya-jin. Saved by their technology."

"It's your technology too now, remember?"

"Don't remind me," Kat answered as the tanks waters began to rise. "Bulma!"

"What? What's wrong?" she turned around to see Kat waving something at her.

"The picture." Kat dropped the paper to the floor just as the tank doors closed and enveloped her in dreamlessness.

*****

Bulma was the only one left in the room when the waters subsided. She had fallen asleep at a computer console the picture clutched tightly in one hand.

Kat gingerly got out of the tank, marveling at how good she felt. She walked over to Bulma and gently shook the woman's shoulder.

"Hunh? What?" came the sleepy reply.

"Bulma," Kat said. "Wake up."

Bulma jerked up. "Huh? Oh, Kat you're out." She glanced at the clock. "Hmm, took a little longer than I expected. Maybe if I adjust the…"

"Bulma? Could I have the picture?"

Bulma looked down at the tightly clutched piece of paper. "Oh. Of course."

Kat took the picture, looked at it for a minute then once again folded it carefully and put it in her pocket. She looked up to see Bulma staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"You look just like him," she sighed. "It's hard to believe he's gone again."

"Again? He's been dead before?"

"Yeah. But last time we were able to wish him back with the Dragonballs," she smiled at her. "That was when you were sleeping though. Come to think of it, the last time he died was when a family member showed up."

Kat's eyes widened. "Who?"

"Radditz. He's your brother. From what we could tell he was about seven years older than the two of you. Or at least he was. He and Gokou managed to kill each other."

"They killed each other? What for?"

"Gohan."

"Gohan?"

"Yeah. Radditz wanted to take him to Vegeta as proof that the Saiya-jin race was still alive. Not surprisingly Gokou protested."

"This is the same Vegeta that tried to kill me?"

"Yes and no. Vegeta has changed since he came to live on Earth," she paused. "Well at least we hope he has." Kat caught the look that washed over Bulma's face but before she could say anything a wail came from upstairs.

"Uh oh, he's awake. Probably wants food or something," she sighed and stood.

Bulma made her way upstairs and Kat followed her noting all the broken robots. She frowned ~How can one family run through so many servo-bots?~ They entered the main living area and Kat was surprised to see no-one around.

"Bulma?"

"Mmm?"

"Where is everyone?"

"Oh. Vegeta's locked himself in the gravity room again, mum and dad have gone to some soiree and the Sons have gone home," she said as they walked into the kitchen.

"What? They left?"

"Oh, don't worry," said Bulma, smiling. "They haven't deserted you. We've got it all worked out." She paused to put a bottle of milk in the microwave. "You're going to stay here for as long as necessary. ChiChi would have had you stay with them but she's just had her dad move in and we've got plenty of room here."

"That's very good of you but I couldn't possibly…"

"Of course you can don't be silly. We'll go and pick up…" *beep, beep, beep* "…oh, excuse me." She turned around to collect the bottle then headed for the second floor. "Like I was saying, we'll go and collect all your things from Kami's Place tomorrow and then you can set them up in your new room however you like. Sound good?"

"Sure but…"

"I haven't told Vegeta yet but he'll just have to put up with it unless he wants to sleep in the gravity room all night and Gohan promised he'll come back tomorrow to help. He wanted to stay until you woke up but ChiChi insisted he come home. I think she wanted him to go over everything again," she chuckled. "She did look like she was still in shock." She opened the door she had come to.

The screaming immediately got louder. ~Woah. What has she been feeding this kid?~

"Shush, Trunks. Mummy's here and look I brought food," Bulma stuck the bottle in her son's mouth. "Heh. Fastest way to a Saiya-jins heart is through his stomach," she turned around. "I think that's the only time that that cliché is allowed to be used. What's the matter?"

Kat had stopped dead and was looking strangely at the child in the crib. "Did you just call him Trunks?"

"Yeah, he's my…oh, you're wondering why he's a baby," as if this was the most normal thing to be thinking about a one year old. "The Trunks you saw was from the future. Well an alternate future really. In his timeline Gokou died from a heart virus and wasn't there to help the others when the androids attacked. Everyone died except for him, Gohan, ChiChi and myself. Eventually the androids got Gohan and almost got Trunks. He decided to go back in time to save Gokou and thus change his future but all he succeeded in doing was changing ours. His stayed the same." She sighed. "Poor kid, he came back again three years later to help us fight the androids and all he got was a bad attitude from a father he never knew."

"As well as being killed. What a wonderful way to be repaid for helping someone."

"Yeah. But he took it all in stride and went back to destroy the androids in his time," she sighed. "I hope he's all right."

Trunks the baby, finished with the bottle and promptly fell asleep again. "Hmph," said Bulma. "If only it were that easy to please your father."

She and Kat went back downstairs and sat in the lounge.

"You know, when I was little I always wanted to come here," said Kat.

"What? To my house?"

"No. To Capsule Corp. I always wanted to meet the famous Dr. Briefs."

"Yeah dad has made sort of a name for himself over the years," Bulma grinned. "Though most of the time now he just holes himself up in one of the labs and tries to get out of society dinners."

"Didn't succeed tonight did he?"

"Well… tonight's dinner is a Big Deal for Capsule Corp. I was supposed to be going but with everything that's just happened, dad offered to go instead. Oh it's all right, don't worry," she added seeing the guilty look on Kat's face. "Anyway I would've had to take Vegeta and he hates those things."

"As long as I didn't put you out in any way."

"Nah, you're fine. Like I said, don't worry about it."

Kat smiled at the older woman. Bulma was suddenly struck by the thought that if it had have been Kat and not Gokou she had met when she was young she would have had some serious competition. ~I never realized how good Gokou would look like as a girl.~ She started giggling.

"What?" asked Kat.

Bulma composed herself. "Oh nothing. It … it's just all a bit overwhelming. I mean, I've known Gokou for years and after Radditz it never occurred to anyone that he might have other family members floating around out there. Heh. At least you're not trying to kill us."

"Why would I want to do that?" asked Kat shocked.

"Oh, Gokou just has a knack for making people wish he were dead," she shrugged. "Must be a Saiya-jin thing."

"Sounds interesting," she sighed. "I wish I could've met him." Then she yawned. "Oh, excuse me."

Bulma smiled. "If you just wanna crash your room is the third on the right upstairs. I'll come and get you for dinner."

"Umm…I don't mean to be rude but won't Vegeta be there?"

"Good point," she frowned, "That probably won't be the best way to break it to him. I'll bring your dinner up."

"Oh, you don't have to bother," she said as she made her way to the stairs. Then she turned. "I don't mean to be nosy but I'm not exactly his favorite person today. How are you gonna tell him?"

Bulma smiled evilly. "I have my ways."

*****

Kat was woken the next morning by something that smelled extremely good. Her nose led her downstairs and into the kitchen. She was knocked out of her daze by the sight of Vegeta sitting at the kitchen table. Kat stood in the doorway frowning at the man while he glared right back at her. They stayed that way even after Bulma walked in.

She looked from one to the other and sighed. "Well at least you're not punching into each other." She gestured for Kat to sit.

Kat did so, sitting as far away as it was possible from Vegeta. It wasn't because she was scared of him but because Bulma had been good to her and she didn't want to wreak her kitchen. Vegeta smirked at her as if he had beaten her again. She ignored him.

This was made easier when a plate of food was placed in front of her. Everything else became distant while she was eating.

When Bulma took her plate away to replace it with another she risked a glance at Vegeta. He had already gone through three plates of food and was starting his forth. Kat had never seen anyone eat more than her before.

"What the hell are you staring at?" he growled from across the table.

"Huh? Oh…nothing," she said and immediately made like the food in front of her was extremely important. Which of was not a hard thing to do for a Saiya-jin.

*****

Gohan looked around the room. "So this is where you live. Must be interesting here."

"It has its moments," came Kat's muffled reply.

Gohan turned around. He could see half of the person he now knew as Kat. Well really she was Aunt Kat but she looked like she'd throttle him if he called her that. She had her head stuck in some cupboard and was throwing things over her shoulder.

"Ugh, what ever possessed me to buy that?" another shirt, an awful green colour, went sailing past.

He sighed and went back to examining the room. He had never seen such a plain room before. Sure she had the standard furniture; a desk with shelf, chest of drawers, a cupboard, but the bed was a bunk built into the wall with just a blanket over it. There was nothing in the room to let you know about the type of person who lived here.

He wandered over to the desk and started packing odds and ends into a box. Then he made his way to the books. He was surprised she had any really. His dad was not a big reader and being his twin Gohan thought that Kat would be the same.

Even more surprising were the titles of those books. There were few novels, the bulk seemed to be made up of texts; 'Advanced Electronics', 'Computer Systems', 'Principles of Chemistry' and so on. Gohan stared. She was very different from is dad. His head would've hurt just looking at them.

"Well that's the cupboard done."

He turned around to see her dump a duffle bag next to the other boxes she had pulled from the cupboard. She looked over to see what he was doing.

He held the books up. "Bit of light reading?"

"Ha, ha," she said putting her hands on her hips. "No. Those were my old school books. You might as well throw them out. They're probably way out of date."

Gohan blanched. ~Sc…_schoolbooks? What kind of school did she go to?~ He threw the books in the box._

He finished packing up the desk and hauled the box over to the pile. He pressed a button on the side of each parcel and they soon had a small pile of capsules in front of them.

Kat picked them up and placed them in a satchel. "Right that's it," she said patting the bag. "Let's go."

Gohan didn't know the ins and outs of Kami's place so he followed Kat through the hallways.

"Um, Kat?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"Those books."

"Mm, what about them?"

"Well," how was he going to put this? "You said you were only sixteen yeah?"

"Uh huh."

"Well those books are advanced university levels. I know cause mum bought me some."

"Yeah? Good for you. It's never too early to learn anything."

"Thanks. But," he stopped walking. She turned around.

Kat grinned. "You want to know why I have those books when I'm still in High School."

He nodded.

"Kid, you aren't the only one who grew up being told an education was important. My teachers gave me those books as extra work. They got sick of watching me sit there and do nothing while the rest of the class caught up."

"Wow. You must be really smart then."

"No more than you. It seems to run in the family," she looked down at Gohan, though not that much, he was almost as tall as her. "Besides I find all that stuff interesting."

He grinned back at her. "You're gonna love it Capsule Corp. then. Bulma will probably let you help in the lab if you tell her that."

"Really? She'd let me do that?"

"Sure. She's good like that."

"Wow," whispered Kat. "I'd get to work at Capsule Corp." Her eyes glossed over.

"Kat?"

She continued to stare into space.

"Kat? Hello, Kat," said Gohan waving a hand in front of her face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Daydreaming," she smiled. "Whenever I wasn't training I always wanted to work at Capsule Corp." She shook her head. "Anyway, enough yapping, let's find Bulma and get out of here. Piccolo probably thinks we're distracting Dende even if we're not in the same room as him." Gohan giggled. She laughed. "You have no idea how weird it is to see the strongest warrior in the world giggle."

Outside, Bulma was nowhere to be seen near the jet they had used to get there. Kat looked at Gohan, who just shrugged. Together they went around the side of the house.

At the same time they heard the hushed voices. Gohan looked at Kat and grinned mischievously. She grinned back and they silently crept towards the sound.

Around the corner Bulma was trying to yell quietly at a very disgruntled looking Piccolo.

"Are you sure? Couldn't you have made a mistake?"

"Of course I'm sure. I searched Kami's memories thoroughly. That's exactly what he saw happening."

"But that's awful. You are going to tell her?"

Kat exchanged a look with Gohan who shrugged.

"Why? It'd just haunt her."

"She deserves to know," hissed Bulma.

"I think I know her a bit better than you do. Telling her that Kami put her in the time thingy just so she could wake up, save someone, then die, will not have a good effect on her."

Gohan turned to Kat. She was staring silently into space.

"Well … if you put it like that. Maybe we shouldn't tell her."


	5. Sorry what were we doing? Oh right Plo...

Another Time

By Karete-chan

Chapter 5: Sorry what were we doing? Oh right. Plot! TC \l1 "

Over the next couple of months Kat found her niche at Capsule Corp.

The day after hearing the conversation between Bulma and Piccolo she resolved that she would not let it get to her. She would prove to Piccolo that she was no weakling. To think that he presumed that she would go to pieces; she dearly wanted to prove him wrong. She only hoped she would die in a fight and not be killed by something stupid, like being hit by a car or something equally preventable. She was a fighter and that's how she should die. She had smiled at that thought ~How very Saiya-jin of me.~

But under her self-made façade she was still only a sixteen-year-old girl. She may have been Saiya-jin but she had been brought up human and with that came the fear of what lay beyond death. It had kept her awake at night for a week before she got sick of it. She decided that she just needed something to take her mind off it.

*****

After that first almost sleepless week Kat finally resolved to ask Bulma if she could help in the lab. She waited until after her sparring session with Gohan, in which he had brought an invitation to dinner that weekend, before she sought out the blue haired woman.

Appropriately she found Bulma in her lab calmly explaining to one of her technicians about the new advancements in capsule technology. She waited until they had finished then knocked on the door.

Bulma turned to her and Kat suddenly noticed how tired the woman looked.

"Hey Kat. What's up?"

"Um, well…I was wondering if I could ask a favour? I mean I know you've already done so much for me already but I…" the words fell out of her mouth in a long gush but she stopped at the look that Bulma was giving her. Pity. Kat suddenly had a flash of what it would be like to work with Bulma looking at her like that all the time. She took a deep breath. "On second thoughts maybe it was a bad idea," and she turned to leave.

"No, it's ok. Finish what you were saying and I'll try to _grant the wish if it is in my power_," the last part being in a halfway decent impression of Shenlon.

Kat smiled despite herself and looked back at Bulma. "Ok, I'll spill but only if you stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" Bulma tried unsuccessfully to mask her emotions.

Kat sighed, "With pity. I am not going to fall into pieces just because of what Piccolo said was going to happen."

Bulma paled, "You…heard?"

Kat nodded, "And Gohan knows as well. I guess that'll teach me to eavesdrop." She smiled faintly, "But like I said, I'm not going to let this get to me and that's why I wanted this favour."

Bulma stared at her. "You're not going to let the news of your own death get to you? How can you not? I mean I know we can bring you back with the Dragonballs but dying shouldn't have to be an option in the first place. And look at you, you're only sixteen and…"

"She is Saiya-jin woman."

The two women turned to see Vegeta in the doorway. ~Damn~ thought Kat ~I didn't even sense him coming.~

"Death does not have a hold over us as it does you humans," he smirked, "so long as it is won honorably."

Bulma saw a distinct flicker in Kat's eyes at this statement. ~Maybe you don't fear death Vegeta but she was not brought up a Saiya-jin and she is still young. Those two things alone make her very different to you.~

"I suppose that you think that I don't have any honor," said Kat icily.

"I don't _suppose anything brat," and he turned to Bulma. "That infernal machine has broken again. I want you to fix it."_

"You mean you broke it," she sighed, "you might have to wait a couple of days, we're really busy right now."

"Days? What am I supposed to for training woman?"

It was out of Bulma's mouth before she could stop it. "You could train with Kat."

The silence was deafening. Kat braced herself in case he went into a rage. She was totally unprepared for the look of disgust on his face.

"I will not waste my time. Have the Gravity Room working by tomorrow woman," and he turned and walked out.

Kat stared after him. "Why is it that nobody can be bothered training with me? I mean I don't like the guy and I know he doesn't like me but he doesn't even have anything else to do. Even using me as a punching bag would help both of us."

"Don't ask me how the man's mind works, I'm still trying to work it out." Bulma started talking to herself, "Tomorrow, huh? Well he can just wait. I'm the only one who can fix the damn thing and I don't have the time."

That jolted Kat back to her real purpose for being there. "Bulma, I can help."

"Help?" The blue haired woman turned to her, "Sweetie, that's nice of you but the Gravity Room is a very sophisticated piece of machinery."

"No, no, not the Grav Room. Here in the lab. I can help out and then you'll have more time to do other things."

Bulma looked at her with sad eyes. "Oh Kat, I'm sorry. I'd absolutely love to have you helping out in the lab I need a new assistant but legally I can't let you. I need someone with experience and know how."

"But I do know how. Please Bulma let me help. It can be one way I can pay you back."

"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head, "I really can't let you."

Kat sighed. "Ok. I'm sorry I disturbed you then," and she turned to leave.

"Kat wait!" The young girl turned around. "I know this mightn't sound very interesting but if you really want to help you could tidy the house for me. I've got some bigwigs coming for dinner in a couple of days."

~I offer to help in the lab and she gives me house cleaning.~ Kat gave a small smile, "Sure Bulma," and she left the lab to find the cleaning robots.

When she found the cupboard the housed the robots she found that there were only two in there. ~Two? This house is bloody huge, it's gonna take forever.~ She sighed and set them to cleaning the dining room and kitchen.

Silently she thanked Kami that Mrs. Briefs wasn't around. As nice as she was she could be a bit overwhelming with her offers of help. Kat chuckled to herself as she cleared the back entrance way. She could just see the lady walking around and offering snacks and drinks as she worked.

The back entrance way was scattered with toys of all kinds. Kat had only been in the house a week and already she was wishing Trunks was old enough to put his own toys away. She also wished that he wouldn't play so much with the servo-bots. There were parts strewn all over. ~No wonder Bulma doesn't have any time. When she's not busy with work she's busy fixing her home. Of course Mr. High and Mighty out there wouldn't think to lend a hand. I mean it wouldn't take a genius to put these things back together…~ she stopped and smacked her head. ~Of course. I'm so stupid.~

She quickly finished the entranceway and rushed to the kitchen. She cleared out half the fridge as a snack and headed to her room.

*****

Vegeta prodded the buttons on the gravity control. ~Baka machine, can't even stand a small ki blast.~

He had spent the last half hour trying to work out where in the complicated machine the wires had frizzled themselves. Finally giving up he resorted to prodding buttons and hoping that the machine would just come back on line.

Vegeta's knowledge of all things electrical was quite proficient but this was far beyond his expertise. Giving the machine a punch that left a fist sized dent in the console he decided that further grumbling could wait until after lunch.

Entering the kitchen he made a beeline for the refrigerator. His mood did not improve at the sight of half the contents missing. ~Stupid brat. She should have to get her own food~ forgetting (conveniently) that the food he ate was actually provided by Bulma. ~And she leaves these baka robots roaming around~ he growled and viciously kicked at the unfortunate robot that had run into his left shin. It flew across the room and smacked into the wall.

He smirked as one of its arms flew off. ~Stupid thing fared better against me than the brat would~ a picture of Juuhachi-gou flashed in his mind. ~Hmph, maybe Bulma could make some robot sparring partners~. He set off to find the annoying woman again.

*****

Kat bent over her work. Even over the music that was blaring in her ears she could hear the screaming from downstairs. ~I wonder what he did this time?~

After a few minutes the screaming stopped and she jumped a while later when something thudded against her door.

Opening the door a crack she was surprised to see Vegeta standing there. Even more surprising was that he had knocked and not just bashed the door in.

"What do _you want?" she asked glaring at him._

He scowled. "Don't think I came here out of kindness brat."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Now tell me what you want or go away."

Anger flashed in his eyes, he held it in check with obvious difficulty. "You, brat, will come and spar with me."

Kat was taken aback. "You…you actually _want to spar? With __me?" She looked at him incredulously._

He lent towards her and sneered in her face. "_You are the only punching bag around here. Now come. I don't have all day."_

She fought hard with the feelings flowing through her. The calling of the impending fight pulled at her even if she knew the outcome but pulling just as hard from the other end was the screaming rage that he had the nerve to order her around.

"Well," she said sarcastically, "I absolutely _hate_ to disappoint you but I don't have time to spend the afternoon in the regen tank," and she shut the door in his face.

"Insolent bitch!" he yelled from the other side. "You will do as your prince says or I will beat you to a bloody pulp right here!"

Calmly she walked back to the door without opening it and said quietly, "I doubt somehow, that Bulma would approve of you destroying the door to my room Vegeta. No matter how much you wanted to kill me."

There was silence from the other side. Kat waited minutes with a pounding heart wondering whether he would do as he had threatened or whether he wanted to avoid Bulma's wrath.

"You watch your back brat," and she heard footsteps heading away from her room.

Slowly she sank down against the door and waited for her breath to become steady again. ~I really have to stop pissing him off or I won't last another week.~ She stood and went back to her work.

*****

Bulma looked back at her darkened lab and sighed ~We're never going to get this shipment out on time. There are just too many other things to do.~ She turned to the house ~Damn, I _need that assistant but all those I've interviewed might've had experience but they were the biggest bunch of blundering fools I've ever met. And it doesn't help having Vegeta on my back about the Grav room and some idea about sparring with…~ she opened the door ~…r…robots?~_

She stared incredulously at the small robot in the hallway. It was diligently dusting away at one of the hallstands. Another was further up the hall making steady sweeps that left a sparkling floor behind it. ~What the hell? Where did all these come from?~

She watched as another robot scuttled into view baring a tray of food. It disappeared in the direction of the rec room. Bulma followed it.

Through the dining room and lounge she walked spotting three more of the mysterious workers. ~What the hell is going on here? And where is everybody?~ The robot with the tray disappeared around the corner. Suddenly Bulma heard a voice.

"Damn. I'm going to have to program these things to tell the difference between a Human and a Saiya-jin. That tray isn't even a nibble."

Bulma poked her head around the corner. Sitting on the rec room couch, Kat was staring disgustedly at the tray of food. She watched as the young Saiya-jin lifted her feet so another robot could vacuum underneath the couch.

Bulma stepped into the room. "Uh, Kat?"

Kat's head jerked up. She looked distinctly like a child who had been caught doing something that she shouldn't have.

"Bulma! Uh…hi! Er…I didn't hear you come in."

"That would be because of the vacuum cleaner. Kat, what is going on?"

Still sitting on the couch with her legs in the air Kat spread her arms. "Um…surprise?"

"Surprise," Bulma repeated dryly, "that would be an understatement. Where did all the 'bots come from?"

"Ah, well, you know how you asked me to clean the house?" Bulma nodded. "Well, this place is huge and you only had two cleaner 'bots so I…"

"Don't tell me you went and bought all these?" she sighed, "Kat I get them as free testing models from the factory."

"No, no, no," Kat shook her hands in front of her face, "I fixed all the broken ones around the house."

Bulma stared at her. "You…fixed the broken ones?"

Kat nodded. "Yeah. See I figured that the two 'bots and myself would never get the whole house done so I thought that spending my time fixing the others so that there were more workers would be better." She grinned, "And I was right too. They're nearly finished."

Bulma continued to stare open mouthed at the girl in front of her.

"Uh, Bulma? Bulma? Hey are you ok?"

Bulma shook herself out of her daze. "I'm fine but…"

Kat stood and walked towards her. "Are you sure? It looked like you weren't entirely there a moment ago."

"No, it's…it's just that I can't believe that you fixed them."

Kat grinned. "It wasn't hard. Well not after I found all the bits and pieces," she frowned. "Trunks really did a number on a few of them. Some of those circuit boards will be teeth marked forever."

The young Saiya-jin smiled again and turned back to the couch. She lent over the back and reemerged with a screwdriver in her hand. "I suppose I'll just have to keep an eye on the 'terror'" she continued. "Can't have him messing up all my hard work. Now let's see." She bent over the 'bot that had brought the offensive tray of food and proceeded to pull out circuit boards and readjust them.

Slowly Bulma lowered herself into an armchair and absentmindedly lifted her feet when the 'bot with the vacuum approached.

"I can't believe it."

"Believe what?" Kat asked without lifting her head.

"That I didn't take you up on your offer earlier. I just sat through a whole afternoon of interviewing boring, pretentious, yes-men when the person who really deserves the job has been inside cleaning my house."

Kat grinned. "Um, not to say I told you so but well, I did. Anyway I haven't really done much of the cleaning myself and putting the 'bots back together was fun. I haven't had anything like that to do in ages."

Bulma looked at the very happy girl. "I won't go easy on you, you do know that don't you?"

"Of course. I wouldn't expect anything else."

They grinned at each other. It was short lived. Two yells came simultaneously from the hall.

Bulma and Kat reached the door to the hallway in time to see the 'bot that had been cleaning the floor go sailing past.

Peering around the corner they saw Dr. and Mrs. Briefs staring at the strange scene in front of them. Trunks, who was wiggling wildly in his grandmother's arms was giggling like mad at something that Bulma and Kat couldn't see. Turning to look in the other direction (the one that the 'bot had come from) they saw the source of that amusement.

Vegeta was sprawled on his butt in a puddle of soapy water looking murderously at the unfortunate culprit. Unable to help herself Bulma began to giggle in an almost identical way as her son. Vegeta swung his gaze to the two women in the doorway his expression not changing an inch. 

Kat whispered so that only Bulma could hear. "I have to go before I start laughing otherwise he'll kill me." She turned to go. "I do feel sorry for the 'bot though. I'd wet myself too if Vegeta had walked in on me like that." Then she bolted for her room as Bulma dissolved into peals of laughter.

*****

Kat watched as Gohan rolled around laughing on the grass outside his house. She had just finished recounting the story of 'Vegeta and the robot'.

"W…what happened after he …w…wrecked the robot?" breathed Gohan between giggles.

"No idea. I got out of there so he couldn't hear me laughing. You didn't see the look on his face, I would've been dead so fast it wasn't funny and you have no idea how grateful I am that you invited me to dinner. I've had to be really careful that I don't rise to his taunts. He's been looking for an excuse to start a fight all week."

"Well at least Bulma is letting you help out in the lab now. You can spend most of the day in there and not have to see him."

"True but I still have to live in the same house as him and I don't work on the weekends. Plus I want to train too so I really want to use the gravity room but that means I have to ask Vegeta and that's not something that I want to do," she sighed. "At least I've got you and Bulma. I'd include your mum in that list but I think she's still not comfortable with all of this."

"Yeah well, mum's just doing what she does and it is sort of nervy having someone who looks like dad around."

"If I…"

"Dinner!" came ChiChi's yell from inside the house. Gohan and Kat left their shadows behind in their rush.

Inside the Ox King was already seated and ChiChi was dutifully ladling some kind of noodle dish into bowls. As soon as Gohan was handed his he started wolfing it down. Kat stared.

"Gohan!" admonished ChiChi. "We have guests."

"Oh don't mind me, I have to put up with Vegeta remember? He wolfs his food just as fast and so do I." Kat turned to Gohan. "Though I think we manage to get most of the food in our mouths and not around them." She grinned.

"Oops," said Gohan grinning back "Gomen."

The rest of dinner was pleasant as there wasn't much talking. ChiChi was thankful that she always prepared so much food, Kat didn't eat quite as much as Gohan but she could still put an elephant to shame. She did concede though that Kat was a neater eater than Gohan and her table manners were impeccable compared to Gokou's. Her father seemed to like the young girl and once she had finished eating was quite willing to engage in conversation with him. ChiChi herself didn't participate much and found excuses to leave the room as often as she could. On most of these occasions she wasn't actually doing anything she just needed a break from being in the same room as someone who looked so much like her Gokou.

When she had left the room for the tenth time Kat sighed and watched as the door to the kitchen swung shut behind the retreating woman's back. "This isn't working. She doesn't like me. It's getting late anyway, I should go."

"She's just sad Kat, that's not your fault in any way," the Ox King smiled gently at her.

"I know but my being here isn't helping her. I just remind her of Gokou." She got up and walked to the door. "Tell ChiChi that dinner was delicious. Mr. Popo couldn't have done better. Goodnight."

She was out the door and in the air before they could answer.

" 'night."


	6. We found it! We think…

Another Time

By Karete-chan

****

**Chapter 6: We found it! We think…**

She was bored. Another meeting. Up the front of the room some old bald guy was droning on and on about some contract that Capsule Corp. and his supply company should participate in. Kat understood the use of materials but all these charts about costs and 'supply and demand' went over her head. Her idea of getting supplies was: I want, you have, I pay, you give. As simple as that.

She glanced at Bulma. The older woman was sitting up straight and appeared to be listening intently but her eyes had a glazed look to them. ~She finds this as tedious as I do. I bet she brings me to these things just so that she's not the only one with _no idea of what's actually happening.~ She grinned inwardly. Or at least she thought she did._

"Miss Son? Did you have something you wanted to contribute?"

"Huh?"

One of the young financial advisors was looking at her disgustedly.

"I…er…"

Bulma came to her rescue. "I think gentlemen, that I have heard enough." She gathered the papers in front of her. "My assistant obviously feels that our time could be better spent elsewhere and so do I." She stood up and the rest of the room followed suit.

"B...but Bulma-san we have not finished agreeing on the contract."

"I'll leave that to my advisors here. I am sure that they are more than capable at sorting out all the nitty gritty details." She smiled. "That is what I hired them for after all. I have other matters to attend to today so I must take my leave." Kat followed her out of the room.

"Bulma…"

"Kat we're at work, please try and remember to call me Bulma-san or Ms. President."

"Gomen Bulma-san, I forgot."

"I know, those old fogies could make you forget anything after a while. They just kept talking didn't they? Of course you apparently found _something to smile at."_

"Is that why that guy looked so pissed at me? Oh well, at least it got me out of there."

"You and me both kid. I can't stand all that drivel."

Kat grinned. "I know. That's why I was smiling. You've almost got your act down pat. You just need to work on keeping the glazed look out of your eyes."

Bulma cringed. "It was that obvious?"

"Only to me and that's because I wasn't paying much attention."

Bulma frowned. "I should probably tell you off for that but then it would just be a case of 'do as I tell you not as I do'" she sighed. "Ah well," she looked at her watch. "I suppose we can call it a day."

"Already? Bulma-san it's only lunchtime."

"I know. Isn't it great when you own the company?" she grinned. "Come on let's get something to eat."

The two women trudged back to the large domed building they called home. Kat opened the door and mock bowed Bulma inside.

"After you Ms. President."

"Oh no. After you loyal employee," and mock bowed her in return.

"Oh I couldn't possibly," replied Kat who started to giggle.

"Don't be silly it's my pleasure," said Bulma who also started to laugh.

"What in the world is going on?" came a surprised voice from inside.

This brought Bulma and Kat back to their senses. Still bowing to each other they turned their heads to see a very startled looking Mrs. Briefs starting at them. They immediately straightened up and tried very hard not to look embarrassed.

"Uh hi mum, I just decided that Kat and I deserved the rest of the day off."

"Oh ok," she grinned as if this explained everything. "That was very good timing of you honey, there's a guest waiting for you in the lounge," and she disappeared into the kitchen.

"A guest? Do I have an appointment?"

Kat shook her head. "Not that I know of." She followed Bulma down the hall.

"Yamcha!" Bulma's cry was half happy, half scolding. From behind Bulma, Kat could see that the scarred warrior was playing with Trunks. Playing as in letting Trunks hold his finger while he dangled him five feet above the ground. Bulma was obviously of the opinion that this was not something that she wanted her son to be doing, Trunks on the other hand thought that this was immense fun as he was giggling in that inane way again. Personally Kat thought that if the kid were dropped he'd probably just bounce. He'd make a hell of a racket afterwards but he wouldn't be hurt.

"Ah heh. Hi Bulma," answered Yamcha, one hand behind his head.

"Put him down this instant!"

"Aw Bulma I was just playing with him."

"And what would you have done if he had fallen and Vegeta heard you?"

Yamcha paled. "I swear Bulma I wouldn't have dropped him."

Bulma eyed him for a while longer then smiled. "I know, just don't do it again ok?" Yamcha grinned back. Then his eyes flicked to Kat.

"Hey Bulma, introduce me to your friend."

"Oh how rude of me. Yamcha this is Kat. Kat, Yamcha." Kat nodded politely as he sidled up next to her.

"You were at the Cell games." He looked surprised but quickly puffed himself up.

"Uh, yeah. Thought I might take a crack at him 'cause I've been doing marshal arts since I could walk." He gave her a quick wink.

~Oh puh-lease. He's trying to hit on me.~ Kat saw Bulma's face darken. She smiled at him. "Well I'm glad that Mr. Satan was there to bail you out of trouble. You should have known that only the Strongest Man on Earth could take him out." This time it was Yamcha's turn to look surly.

"Oh. A fan of his are you?"

"Oh yeah," Kat glanced in Bulma's direction. "A huge one." Bulma was trying hard not to smile. "Look, you came to see Bulma so I'll just get out of your way. Bulma I'm going duck over to Gohan's and give him a break from ChiChi."

"Ok. Will you be back for dinner? Oh and I need you to baby-sit Trunks tomorrow."

"Yes and okay," answered Kat as she walked to the window and threw it open. She stepped up on the ledge.

"Hey!" exclaimed Yamcha. "What do you think you're doing? We're two stories up!"

Kat grinned as she looked over her shoulder at him. "You know, it was really good of you guys to stay and give Gohan a hand in kicking Cell's ass. Ja ne!" She took off into the sky as Yamcha stared dumbfounded after her. He turned to Bulma.

"What the hell was that?"

"How long have you got?" she asked.

*****

Kat watched as Trunks climbed out of his playpen for the sixth time that day. "Why is it that you behave for everyone else and not for me? Am I that 'uncool' to you? Am I not worth listening to? And why in the world am I talking to you? You don't even understand." She sighed and went back to her book when she saw that the young child had given all his attention to a ragged old teddy bear and had commenced rendering it into pieces.

She sighed. Babysitting Trunks was not one of her favorite pastimes. Bulma was away at a three day conference and if she even thought for a moment that Vegeta would lend a hand she would have walked herself to the nearest insane asylum. Kat lived for the moment that the Briefs would come home so that she could escape to her room. She sighed and glanced back at Trunks, who had disappeared. ~Damn~

She got up and let her senses stretch out then she stopped. A trail of teddy bear bits led out into the hallway. She followed the path of destruction until she reached the kitchen. The cause of her current misery had seated himself in front of the knife rack on the bench, having climbed there through the use of one of the kitchen chairs. "Annoying little brat." She said as she picked him up. "Someone should tell you that babies shouldn't have the strength or intelligence to drag a kitchen chair across the room." She sighed as the doorbell rang and turned to go and answer it. "Can I ask you a question terror? And don't giggle at me." Kat asked as she walked down the hall balancing Trunks on her hip. "How long is it going to be before you grow up?" She opened the front door.

She stared at the man in front of her and he stared right back. "Well that was quick," she said softly.

"Who are you?" asked the lavender haired youth on the doorstep.

*****

"So my kassan's not home then?"

"No. She'll be back tonight though." Kat turned around as the kettle began to whistle. She poured two cups of tea then turned back to the table. "Vegeta's here but I doubt you'll see him, he's too busy training." She sat down and they began to drink the tea. A loud crunch interrupted them. Kat turned to see Chibi Trunks sitting amongst the rubble of one of her carefully reconstructed robots.

"Bit of a terror aren't I?" Marai Trunks laughed. He turned back to his tea and stopped when he saw the look on Kat's face.

"That's it! I've been putting up with you for three days!" She stormed over to the crib that she'd dragged into the kitchen and picked up the startled child. "I'm sick and tired of having to watch you break everything in sight!" She threw open the back door and almost flew across the yard. She balanced the child on her hip once more and opened the small panel on the side of the gravity machine. She backed off as she heard the expected thump and muffled curses.

The door flew open. "What the hell do you think you're doing brat?" Vegeta yelled in her face. "I've told you to never interrupt me!" He advanced towards her and she held Chibi Trunks up in front of herself.

"If you took care of your son on your own whim then I wouldn't have to be out here telling you to do it asshole!" She put the boy down on the grass. "I have my own things to do, not that you can see past your own nose and I refuse to do your job for you anymore." She turned away and began to walk towards the house when she felt a strong grip on her arm. She spun around to find herself inches away from Vegeta.

"How dare you tell me what I should be doing brat," he said coldly.

"It's about time somebody did." She found herself flying across the yard headfirst. She hit the side of Bulma's lab and bounced off. Twisting her body in mid air, she landed in a crouch and stood up. "Besides," she added mockingly. "You need to spend some time with your sons."

"Sons?" Vegeta looked at the small boy on the grass and then around the yard. Marai Trunks stood leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen and he gave his father a small wave when Vegeta spotted him. The Saiya-jin Prince turned around in time to see Kat disappear into one of the upstairs windows.

*****

A knock came on her door. Kat turned over and pulled her pillow over her head. "Muwumff," she answered.

The knocking came again. "Hey Kat, you dead in there or what?" Trunks. Or what, she thought, like sleeping. Oh well, at least it wasn't Vegeta. Removing the pillow from her head she rolled over…and fell out of bed. "Are you moving furniture or something? Remember lift from the knees." Smart-ass. She picked herself up and staggered to the door.

"What?" she asked, throwing it open.

Trunks was prepared for snarling mass of attitude that should have greeted him this early on a Saturday but was totally taken aback at the girl that answered Kat's door. Clad only in a pair of shorts and a singlet top, her hair lay in disheveled mess around her shoulders. He felt his cheeks go red. He shook his head. For Kami's sake, she's only sixteen! "I was wondering if you wanted to spar but it looks like it might be a little early for you."

Her eyes suddenly found consciousness. "Spar? As in, I get to fight back not just get the shit beaten out of me?"

"That's only father's definition."

"Do I get to eat first?"

"Grandma has breakfast waiting."

Her eyes lit up then dulled considering. "What time is it?"

"Seven thirty. It's late."

"Late he says. Seven thirty on a Saturday," she mumbled to herself. "You owe me," she muttered as she shut the door in his face.

"So are you coming or what?"

"Did you want to watch me get dressed?" she yelled sarcastically, through the door.

Yes…No! "Just hurry up."

*****

It was Noon by the time Vegeta had decided he was hungry enough to stop training. Leaving the gravity room he began striding across Capsule Corp.'s immense yard towards the main building. As he slammed the backdoor behind him, the woman's mother poked her head out from the kitchen.

"Oh Vegeta! Hungry already? Good thing I started early today!" Early? The baka woman never stopped.

She walked out and latched onto his arm guiding him to the kitchen. Food seemed to appear from nowhere and he concentrated on the food to drown out the woman's incessant chatter. He was half way through his third helping when the woman actually mentioned something of importance.

"What?"

"Oh. I was just saying that we weren't going to be home tonight and I was hoping you'd let Bulma know." That's all he needed, a night of her cooking. It was enough to put him off his food.

He pushed his plate away and stalked out. Now he was pissed. He needed a good fight. Where was the damn boy when you wanted him? He scanned the area. There he was. Off in the forest somewhere. He took to the sky.

It took him only a few minutes to find his son. He hovered in the air above and scowled. Down below Trunks was throwing stone after stone at the brat, an old training exercise to increase agility. He wasn't even Super Saiya-jin and the girl was still getting hit. Pathetic.

"Boy!" he yelled. Both the young Saiya-jins looked up startled. So startled that Trunks forgot what he was doing and Kat forgot to dodge. The stone hit her square in the forehead causing her to topple over.

"Ow!" she cried rubbing her head.

"Shit. Sorry Kat," Trunks called trying not to laugh. Vegeta landed beside him mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like 'pathetic'.

"We're sparring. Come," the prince-of-all-things-arrogant stated.

"What about Kat?" asked Trunks.

Vegeta glared over at the girl. She was standing now, arms crossed over her chest and scowling. "Karete," he said speaking to Trunks. "Will take her weakling ass back to the house and mind the other brat. The humans are going out and the woman won't be back until later."

"Hey, did it ever occur to you that I might be busy or even to speak to my face?" Kat called. "And don't call me that!"

Vegeta growled. "You don't have a choice either way." His aura flared as he took to the sky.

Trunks looked over at Kat, shrugged and followed his father leaving her fuming on the ground. They were both as bad as each other. All she was good for was to baby-sit. She sighed as she turned towards Capsule Corp. The Briefs were too good to her for her to leave them in the lurch.

*****

The first thing Trunks heard when he walked in the door was the TV blaring. Someone was singing an all too cheery song about ducks. He walked to the rec room and had to stifle a laugh at what he saw. Chibi him was seated in front of the TV bouncing up and down along with the singing while simultaneously pulling a 'bot to shreds. Kat, oblivious, was slumped on the couch, asleep.

He walked over to himself, looked down and grinned. "We live to torture her don't we? I hit her with rocks, you destroy her hard work." He turned to the couch and poked her shoulder. "Hey!"

Her eyes opened. "What?"

"Not much of a job you're doing, I could've got hurt," he smirked.

"Ha ha. You're a comedian."

"I live to please."

She sat up, spotted the practically disintegrated robot and sighed.

"Another one for the bin?" he asked.

"I'm getting sick of this."

"Don't worry I think I grow out of it."

"There goes the comedian again."

He frowned. "What's got you so grumpy?"

She glared at him. "Do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Jump every time he barks."

Trunks sat down. "You're pissed because I went with tousan."

"No. I'm pissed because you did what he said. Have you ever heard the word 'no'?"

"I didn't want to be around when you started yelling at me about the rock. I don't need that while I'm on holiday."

It was her turn to smirk. "About that…"

"Mama."

The conversation/argument stopped. "Did you hear what I heard?" Trunks asked.

Kat nodded, open mouthed. "Baby you just said mama."

"Mama."

They turned to look at Chibi Trunks. He was holding his hands out to the TV. Bulma was being interviewed on the news.

"That is so cool. I got to hear my own first word." Trunks grinned then slapped himself in the head. "Wait. That sounded really dumb." 

Kat nodded again. "Hey terror. Say 'dada'." Chibi Trunks looked at her like she had just spouted antlers. "Come on say 'dada'." Again no response. "Mama?"

"Mama!" he giggled.

Kat frowned. "Ok then. We've got mama going. How about 'Vegeta'?"

"Gee-ta!" More giggling.

"Trunks?" asked Trunks.

"Unks!"

"Close enough," he grinned.

"Kat?" Kat asked nodding hopefully. Chibi gave her a blank look.

Trunks smirked. "Karete?"

"Creet!"

Kat's face darkened. "The fates have written Kat," Trunks laughed.

"Yes. They've written that I'm going to kill you."

"Get in line," he said sobering up. "Kassan is cooking tonight."

Kat thunked her head against the arm of the couch. "This day just went from bad to worse."

Trunks got up. "It hasn't got there just yet. Worse will come when dad gets so hungry he'll actually have to eat Kassan's food." He turned to walk out of the room.

"Hey! Where're you going?"

"To take a shower." He turned around and smirked at her. "Why? Did you want to watch?"

She screwed up her face. "Please. I think I have some taste." She felt her cheeks tinge pink.

"Is that a no then?"

"It's a no," she said scowling.

Still smirking he left the room. "Your loss."

Quite possibly, her head thought before she could stop it. No it's not. I didn't want to see him in the shower. Did I…maybe. She looked down. Chibi Trunks gazed up at her and she felt her face go red. "Don't look at me like that." He didn't blink. She sighed. "Come on then," she said, picking him up. "Let's go make this day a little better."


	7. Well, not plot maybe but something’s goi...

** SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1********Another Time**

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 7: Well, not plot maybe but something's going on.**

Trunks towel dried his lavender hair as he walked down the stairs. He was letting it grow long again and it was in that annoying stage where it was not quite long enough to be pulled back. He stepped into the deserted rec room where the TV was still blaring. He stepped over and turned it off. It was then he noticed the smell. It smelled like...food and not just any food; it smelled like good food. His heart jumped. ~Grandma decided to make dinner for us before she went!~ He headed to the kitchen to find her.

Pots were bubbling on the stove when he got there. Kat was seated at the kitchen table feeding Chibi Trunks and for once he was making life easy for her by willingly wolfing down everything she put in front of him.

"Where's grandma?"

Kat looked up and gave him a sideways glance. "She's gone out remember?"

"She'd never go out and leave food on!"

A small smile crept onto Kat's lips as she turned back to the Chibi. "Baka. I'm cooking, not Mrs. Briefs."

His jaw dropped. "You?" he pointed. "You're cooking?"

"Yep." She got up and moved to check a pot. Then went onto the oven. "Thought I might as well. That way it'll be a nice surprise for Bulma when she gets over the shock of hearing her son's first word." She pulled packets out of the pantry. "That and maybe Vegeta won't be as pissed off if the food is edible."

"You mean what you cook you can actually eat?"

"Not if you keep making fun of it," she retorted, her back to him. "I'm no ChiChi but I do alright," she added, sounding a little dejected. She poured flour into a bowl.

"So, do you want a hand?"

Her head jerked up and she turned around. "Are you serious?"

"Sure," he said. Bumping her away from the bowl and taking the flour from her hands. "There's no grandma in my time remember? Someone had to learn to cook or Kassan and I would've starved by now." He turned to the bench. Kat glared at his back and crossed her arms. "Uh..."

"It's a pudding," she answered handing him the recipe.

"I knew that."

"Uh huh. Sure you did." She sat down at the table and resumed feeding Chibi Trunks who had been trying to climb out of his high chair to get at the food. Had Kat not tied him to the chair he would have succeeded.

*****

"Will you stop fidgeting!" Kat growled at the squirming baby in front of her. This just caused Chibi Trunks to try harder to crawl away. Marai Trunks walked in just as she tried for the tenth time to shove the shirt over the baby's head.

He smirked. "We'll have child welfare on the doorstep any moment now."

"Let them spend five minutes with him and I'll be given a medal." She grinned as the shirt slid on. "Hah! Victory!"

Trunks shook his head. "Gloating over a baby. That's big of you."

"Shut up. Did you put them where he'll see them?"

"Yeah. He won't be happy you know."

"I know. He can beat me up later."

Trunks frowned. "You have to stop letting him walk all over you," he said bending to pick himself up.

She sighed and stood up. "That's easy for you to say, you can fight back." She walked into the dining room and looked at the table for the twentieth time.

"Will you stop worrying?" Trunks asked impatiently from behind her.

"No. You don't think Vegeta will ruin this do y…?"

"Brats! Where the hell are you?" Vegeta roared from upstairs.

Kat and Trunks winced as the noise assaulted their sensitive ears. "Here we go." She reached to take the Chibi from his arms.

"Please tell me you're not going to use me as a shield," Trunks asked, indicating the Chibi.

She glared at him then sighed. "Just stop him. Bulma will be back any second now and she won't need to walk in on a screaming argument after the meeting she had today." Trunks nodded silently and turned as Vegeta strode into the room.

"What the hell do you…" He stopped and took in the room. The table was laid out with Bulma's second best dinner set, the brats stood beside it looking at him apprehensively. All three were wearing similar garments to the ones that they had replaced his own with. "What is this?" he asked menacingly, holding out a piece of paper. The girl looked strangely at his son for a moment before stepping forward and taking the paper. She read it and was silent for a while. "I found that, brat, on these clothes."

Kat turned to Trunks. " 'Wear me'? Where were you? Through the looking glass?"

"What?" he asked. "I thought it was funny."

"Oh yes, hilarious."

Vegeta grabbed her arm. "Tell me what is going on right now brat," he growled.

"Tousan…" Trunks began.

"Oh!" They turned to see Bulma at the other end of the room. Vegeta let his hold go of Kat's arm as Bulma's eyes swept the room. "Guys, what's going on? Why are you all dressed up?"

"Mama!" cried Chibi Trunks, reaching for her. Bulma's mouth fell opened and gaped a couple of times.

"We thought we'd celebrate," Kat said to break the silence. Bulma's mouth was still hanging open.

"What's so good about that?" Vegeta mocked. "So the brat can say a word, who cares?"

Kat smirked. "Hey terror, who's that?" she asked pointing to Vegeta.

"Ge-ta," the baby stated plainly.

Later when they got a chance to talk, Kat and Trunks couldn't agree that they'd seen something flicker in Vegeta's eyes when the Chibi said his name. Either way, the dinner went better than they'd hoped.

*****

Bulma smiled and tiled her face towards the sun. She was outside, next to her pool, taking a well-earned day off and getting a tan to boot. The first day of summer had arrived and was recording the highest temperatures for twenty years. Somewhere off in the forest a bird began singing and Bulma thought that it couldn't get any better than this. The last few days had been the best she'd had in a long time. Ever since that stupid dinner the kids had put on things had been going well. Vegeta for one had definitely been in a better mood, as the last few nights had proved. She grinned wickedly at the thought. She had to get him back for what he did last night, she thought fingering the bite mark on her neck. Of course being alone had its perks too. For one, she could straighten out her thoughts and just have some general quiet time, without Vegeta or some employee wanting something.

Trunks had offered, to her delight, to take the Chibi this morning to go and visit the Son's. Her parents, sensing that their daughter wanted what they called her 'down time', also beat a hasty retreat to a luncheon at an old friends house. Vegeta she needn't worry about because he spent most of the day in the Grav Room and her mother had left him prepared food in the fridge. Of course Kat had been the easiest to...well she wouldn't say 'get rid of' merely, make scarce. To the young girl's utter joy some of the kids of her biggest clients had invited her to the beach for the day. The girl had been ecstatic and Bulma, despite her apprehension of some of the reputations, had fed off the girl's joy and had dragged her straight down to the nearest shopping strip and bought her several new outfits, even though most of them were completely inappropriate for beach wear.

She had been doing that a lot lately. First it had been from the need for Kat to have suitable things to wear to meetings but then when Bulma had seen the true state of the girl's meager wardrobe she'd insisted on buying more. Kat had protested for a while but had finally given in to Bulma's forcefulness. Bulma smiled as she went back to her magazine. Having Kat around was like having a daughter she'd never had to raise. Not to mention the free babysitting. Of course she didn't get along with Vegeta and that worried her but then Kat was smart enough to keep out of his way. And she got along famously with Trunks. Though not this morning, she thought frowning, remembering the row that had ensued because she'd forgotten to tell him she was going. It wasn't any of his business what she did, he wasn't her babysitter, she'd said. Maybe not, he'd replied, but Gohan was going to be disappointed. Kat had balked a little at this but had muttered that her nephew would understand. Bulma seriously thought that Trunks really hadn't begun the argument for Gohan's sake and was miffed that she was going out with people that hadn't included him. The smile returned as Bulma imagined Vegeta's reaction if she told him that.

A door slamming interrupted her thoughts. A moment later another door slammed and then music began blaring. Evidently, Kat had returned and Bulma guessed, as she got off her comfy deck chair, was not in the best of moods.

By the time Bulma had made the journey up to the young girl's room, the blaring music had even managed to draw Vegeta from his training. He was standing outside Kat's door yelling at the top of his lungs while trying to save his sensitive ears by covering them with his hands. All in all a very undignified position for the great Saiya-jin Prince to be in and Bulma mused, if he had known someone was watching him would have stopped immediately.

She was about to tap him on the shoulder when his disgust of anything to do with the younger Saiya-jin evaporated and he broke the door in. Bulma, quick to follow him in, ignored him as he ripped the stereo off the shelf and proceeded to throw it out the window. Instead her gaze went to the figure on the bed, which had a pillow over their head.

"Kat?" Bulma asked when everything went silent. No answer. "Kat, is everything okay?" Knowing very well that it obviously wasn't.

"Go away," came the muffled reply from under the pillow.

"No." Bulma's open out refusal was a surprise because the girl under the pillow didn't reply and she was never one to be at a loss for words, most of the time she had far too many of them to say. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Okay. I'll put it another way. What did you do?"

"Nothing." But this time the reply was much quieter.

Bulma waited, grateful that Vegeta had chosen to remain silent, she knew that Kat could sense him in the room. After a few moments the girl began talking again.

"I'm too different Bulma-san. I don't fit in anywhere." She sighed. "I never will."

"Come on Kat, you know that's not true. You fit in here don't you?"

Kat abruptly sat up and turned to Bulma, who was surprised at first to see dry eyes before reminding herself that she was speaking with a Saiya-jin. Then she noticed Kat's bloodstained and slightly torn shirt.

"Kami...your shirt. What happened? Are you all right?"

Kat stood shakily, seeming to loose her balance for a minute. "I told you, nothing happened." She pushed past the blue haired woman and using the window that Vegeta had conveniently opened with the stereo, Kat floated out of the room and up towards the roof.

Bewildered about this strange behavior, Bulma turned to question Vegeta. Maybe this was some weird Saiya-jin thing? But Vegeta's stoic mask never changed. He gave a small shrug and walked from the room.

*****

She was still on the roof when Vegeta found her a few hours later. He knew she knew he was there and wouldn't have cared if she didn't. He stood, watching her but she didn't move save for the slight swaying of her ebon hair when the breeze blew.

He could find so many reasons to hate this girl. Not by far the least was that she was related to Kakarott and was his twin of all things. She refused to acknowledge him as her Prince. She relied on others far too much to get by – barging in on what was now his home the greatest of these. And she pissed him off royally with every word that came out of her mouth. It was true that a lot of the time Bulma had this effect on him too but this young third class Saiya-jin had not the beauty of his blue haired onna. Perhaps in a few years and if she ever learned to curb her mouth she would be something to look at but only perhaps. Of course, his son was being far too friendly towards her, something that he knew Bulma approved of but disgusted him. He only hoped that the boy would leave soon and that the harpy would take the girl in.

He came out of his thoughts and looked at her again. So un-Saiya-jin like, this way of looking dejected with the shoulders hunched and head down. Even a third class should have more pride than that. It was no way for a full-blooded Saiya-jin to act. That thought stopped him there. It drew his attention to a fact that had not escaped him but had only just now made him realize exactly why he hated her so much. He blamed her.

She was the only full-blooded female of his kind left and she had waited until all the others were dead and he had found Bulma before she came out of hiding. If she had only made herself known then there could have been hope for their race. He put the death of the Saiya-jins on her slight shoulders. Frieza was the real reason he knew but it was hard to take out your lifetime of anger on the dead. So he took it out on the reminder of what could have been.

"Go away Vegeta."

Her soft yet vehement demand jolted him from his reverie. "Do not presume to order me, brat."

"I wasn't ordering. I was telling," she spat back, as a sharp gust of wind exposed the back of her neck.

Vegeta growled. He had, despite his intense dislike of the girl, come up here to get her off the roof. This was not making it easier.

Bulma was downstairs and had been worrying herself stupid ever since the phone call. Apparently some baka human wanted to charge the girl for assault on their son. Of course, he had known as soon as he entered her room that the blood that had been spilt wasn't hers. Bulma had wheedled, eventually, the reason why she had beaten the unsuspecting boy up. He had, according to a reliable source, tried to 'jump her bones' as the overdramatic floozy on the other end of the vid-phone put it. Bulma had deemed this was why the girl was upset.

Vegeta believed the girl (under Saiya-jin law, which was the only one that applied since she wasn't human) had a perfect right to beat up any suitors who were unworthy of her. It was basic Saiya-jin nature. He knew that deep down she would have wanted the boy to fight back – no matter how she denied it. So he had, mostly to calm Bulma down, decided to come up here and give the girl the fight she was looking for. He had been planning to be civil. She was making harder. But then perhaps it would be better if she didn't think he was being sympathetic. Which of course, he wasn't.

Quickly he thought of something that would sting her. "You can't even beat a human sufficiently. You aren't in the position to tell anything."

"Shut up."

"Why? Did he get further than the onna found out?"

"I said shut up!"

"No. I think you let him. Trying to mix your worthless third class blood with a mangy human?" He sneered.

She stood and turned, her black eyes blazing. "Don't you even think about insinuating that! The high and mighty Saiya-jin no Ouji shouldn't bother with the problems of us lower classes. He should go, find a long stick and shove it where the sun don't shine!"

Kat breathing heavily, trying to control the intense hatred she had towards the man at the moment. In two strides he crossed the distance between them and threw a punch at her. She was so wound up that she never noticed that he wasn't using his full strength as she ducked and counter punched at his abdomen. Taking advantage of her position, he slammed her to the roof. She threw him off and pushed off the roof, following him into the air.

Teeth barred she attacked. He just grinned at her as he blocked her punches. This just pissed her off more and caused her to double her attack. Vegeta was mildly surprised that he had to actually increase his ki a bit more to prevent her from hurting him. Still, she had been training and he had beaten her up enough times for her to become a little stronger. He smirked again. She still hadn't noticed he wasn't fighting back. He could hear Bulma yelling at him from the ground. Baka onna, he thought. Doesn't she understand that this is what the girl needs? If she didn't vent this rage now, then the next time some boy tries to 'jump her bones' she might kill him. He didn't really care anything for baka human politics but he understood that the brat could cause trouble for Bulma and therefore for him. It would not do anyone any good for her to keep it bottled up inside. He cursed himself for not concentrating as a punch grazed his cheek.

*****

ChiChi lent out her kitchen window as the laughter floated into her. "What are you boys up to now?" They had finished lunch and she had sent them – Trunks, the Chibi, Gohan and her Tousan – outside while she cleaned up.

Gohan grinned back at her. "Look at Chibi Trunks, Kassan. He's trying to fly before he can walk." The lawn outside the Son house was for once, mercifully free of scorch marks. ChiChi smiled as the Chibi stood, shakily raised his hands and tried to jump up to join Marai Trunks who was teasing him by floating just out of his reach.

"Trunks," ChiChi admonished. "That's mean."

"Don't worry I'll make up for it." He reached down to pick himself up and took off for a spin above the trees, the Chibi giggling madly in his arms.

ChiChi sighed. It would almost be perfect if Gokou were here. Her son was happy and could concentrate on his studies, her Tousan had comfortably settled down with them and he was always happy to have visitors when they dropped in. She supposed that she should have Bulma over for dinner; she had been putting it off because she had apprehensions about Vegeta. One was that she didn't really want the man in her house, the other was that he'd decline the invitation so he could train, which was just plain rude. Her thoughts turned to her sister-in-law. ChiChi actually really liked the girl, despite the little that they had spoken. It was jut that she still found it hard to look at the girls smiling face. She looked exactly like Gokou when she was happy. If it weren't for her hair, which hung down her back in smooth spikes and only the one large lock that fell over her eyes, she would be the female version of her husband. Except for that one time.

Kat had gone into the kitchen to get a glass of water. They heard the tap turn on and stay on for a while. Curious, ChiChi went to check on her. The girl had been standing at the sink starring seemingly out the window. The water was just running from the tap, the glasses left standing on the bench. Kat had her hand out as if waiting for someone to hand her a glass.

After a moment Kat had shivered and come out of whatever little trance she had been in. Her head turned to look at her hand. ChiChi watched as the expression on Kat's face went from surprised to angry. It scared ChiChi for a minute; the girl had looked almost like Vegeta. She backed away into the living room and when Kat came out a minute later she gave no indication that she had even noticed that ChiChi had been there.

"Hey Trunks, did you feel that?" ChiChi glanced up as Trunks came into land.

"Oh no. Not again." Trunks rolled his eyes.

ChiChi frowned. "Trunks-kun, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry ChiChi-san but I have to go. Tousan and Kat are fighting again." He floated up into the sky, the Chibi clutched tightly in his arms. "Thanks for lunch!"

"You're welcome! Be careful!" she called after him.

"Hai!"

"He might need help. I better go with him." Gohan took a step.

"You most certainly will not. Trunks is a grown boy he can take care of himself. You on the other hand have homework."

"Aw kassan…"

"Now Gohan."

*****

There was something wrong with what he was sensing. Kat was fighting all out, like she would have to against Vegeta but his Tousan was holding back most of his energy. He caught sight of them above the large Capsule Corp. dome and slowed his flight. A small smile slowly made it's way onto his face. Well, he thought, there are such things as miracles after all. Or not, he mused as he got in hearing distance. The language coming from both parties wasn't exactly friendly. He landed next to Bulma who was fuming up at the pair.

"Trunks you have to stop them," she pleaded as she plucked the Chibi from his arms.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why…what do you mean, why? They're going to kill each other!"

"No they're not," he answered gazing up at them.

"Huh?"

"Kassan. If Tousan was really fighting her, Kat would be in a tank by now."

Bulma gaped. "You mean he's just sparring with her?"

Trunks nodded. "I don't know why but yes." He shifted suddenly and moved Bulma to the side as Kat came crashing to the ground where they had just been standing. "Or he was," he added, glaring up at Vegeta.

The Saiya-jin Prince glared back before disappearing through an upstairs window. Trunks watched as Bulma knelt beside Kat. "Amazing. He hasn't hurt her at all. She's just unconscious." Bulma shook her head. "As long as I live I will never understand that man."

Trunks smiled slightly. "You always say that."

Bulma turned and regarded the son she never raised; or at least, not this her. He had her blue eyes but they always looked so sad, she wondered if her future self looked the same. She smiled in return. "I can't lift her, could you?"

Trunks knelt and lifted Kat's limp body from the ground. "Tank?"

"No. She'll be fine. He room will do." He nodded and disappeared inside. Bulma stood for a moment in the dark. They hadn't been fighting all out, Trunks had said. She frowned; there was something wrong with that statement. If they hadn't been fighting all out then why had Trunks come back? Unless he'd come back to pull them apart. Which meant that one of them at least had been fighting at full capacity and she was pretty certain it wasn't Vegeta. Kat had been in a foul mood before; had she known what she was truly doing? Is that why Vegeta went easy on her? Why had he only been sparring when before he gave the girl no chance? Bulma shook her head and looked down at her infant son. "As long as I live I will never understand Saiya-jins."

**Author's note:** A bit slow I know. Establishing background I think it's called.

More reviews = more chapters!

Or email me with thoughts, recommendations for good fics. Does anyone know of any decent ones with Zarbon or Jeice in them?

Flame me I don't care. Let me know of any mistakes. Let me know of anything. Reviewing makes the world go round.


	8. Maybe a plot will appear by accident?

**Another Time**

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 8:** **Maybe a plot will appear by accident?**

A hundred feet below him the clouds parted and blended in a never ending dance. Dende found them calming. They were a pleasant change to the bustling people below them. The clouds were in no hurry to be anywhere or do anything. They just were and that was enough for them. Dende half wished that he was a cloud rather than the newest kami of Chikyuu-sei. But destiny was destiny and even at his young age he new he must rise to the challenge. Besides, he thought as he looked over his shoulder, he had Piccolo to help him; even if he was more than gruff at times.

Dende smiled. What better help could he have? The former kami, one of Chikyuu-sei's greatest warriors and his friend Nail. Conveniently rolled into one package. Convenient because imagine the arguments the three of them would get into if they were separate.

Still gazing down at the swirling clouds he let his senses taper outwards, searching for those he considered his friends. The light of their life forces flickered in his mind, reassuring him of their well being. He sighed happily and then sat up sharply. That had been…wrong.

For a split second there had been a disturbance in the flow. He checked again. It was gone now but…he shivered. The overwhelming feeling of loss, of loneliness had been so out of place within the contentment of most of the souls. Perhaps it had been ChiChi, in a moment of sorrow. He scanned her lightly, not wanting to seem prying. Dende sat back, frowning. Well, if it had been her she seemed fine now.

* * *

In fact, ChiChi was more than fine. She was actually grinning as she walked down the dirt, country lane, humming one of her favourite tunes as loud as she could. She would have skipped if she could but the weight of the shopping bags made it impossible.

She was so happy; she was even contemplating inviting everyone to dinner, even Vegeta. Of course that meant she would have to go back to the store again but maybe she talk Kat into doing it when she dropped Gohan back home. They were going to be so surprised!

* * *

Gohan ran ahead down the street as they exited the cinema. He liked the city, with its teeming amounts of people and large buildings. Trunks and Kat watched him go.

"I still can't believe that he's the strongest warrior in the world," she said as the boy stopped to pet the head of the dog that had just wandered up to him.

"Do you think he enjoyed the movie?" Trunks asked absently.

"I mean, I know he's only eleven," Kat continued, "but warriors don't skip! Hell, eleven year old boys don't skip."

"I've never been to the cinema before," Trunks said, ignoring her.

"Maybe it's a coping thing? You know, like denial? Second stage: Skipping. I…never?" Her eyes widened as she turned to look at him.

"Well not never," he answered, absently pulling her away from walking into a pole. "I've been inside cinemas, just never seen a movie in one."

"Your world seems a little…"

"Deprived?" he offered.

"No. I was leaning a little more towards…crap."

"What?" he asked scanning the street. "What's wrong?"

She grinned. "Nothing. I meant your world. It sounds like a crappy place."

He stopped walking and stared at her. "That's harsh Kat."

She shrugged and continued after Gohan.

Trunks didn't move. He couldn't believe she'd just said that. He watched as she caught up to Gohan and they spotted an ice cream store, practically racing each other as they made a beeline for it. Sighing, he slowly trudged after them.

It wasn't like she was trying to be cruel, he thought, she told things as she saw them but you'd think she could come up with a better word. His world wasn't crap, it was just…broken and in desperate need of some care.

Entering the store he spotted the two in a corner booth, three sundaes in front of them. He grinned slightly. She had obviously made Gohan wait as the kid was champing at the bit, wanting to eat. He sat down next to Gohan.

"Worked up a bit of a fan club haven't you?" Kat asked nonchalantly as she began to eat her own sundae.

He frowned at her and then looked about the room. He felt his face go red as he spotted the group of giggling girls, who, every five seconds, would turn around and look at him.

"You gonna eat that Trunks?"

Trunks immediately snatched the bowl away from Gohan's outstretched fingers and began to eat. Gohan pouted as Kat grinned at the two of them.

"Hopeless," she said, shaking her head. "Absolutely hopeless."

"Like you wouldn't have done the same thing," Trunks muttered between mouthfuls.

She shrugged. "At least I'd eat neatly enough so as not to gross out my fans." She tipped her head towards the door where the group of, now disgusted looking, girls were beating a hasty retreat.

"At least they've gone," Trunks said, swallowing the last of the ice cream. "And they weren't rude like some people I know," he added, staring pointedly at her.

"I say it like I see it," Kat answered plainly.

"That's just the point. You haven't seen it. You don't know anything about it!"

"About what?" Gohan asked.

"Well I'm so sorry, Mr. High and Mighty. But it can't be that bad if you've got the time to come and visit everyone here." She scowled as she lent back in the booth chair.

"This is the first and only holiday I've ever had in my life!" he hissed. "Don't make it sound so trivial!"

They glared at each other for a moment.

"Gohan," Kat said standing. "I think it's time for us to leave." The young boy nodded. Looking between the two older Saiya-jins he scrambled over the table and followed Kat out the door.

They were halfway down the street by the time Trunks decided to follow them. It looked as if Gohan was trying to talk to her but he could tell by the way her body moved that she cut the young boy off every time he opened his mouth. Trunks scowled. She shouldn't take out her frustration on a kid.

"Have a nice flight, Karete!" He yelled down the street after them, knowing that however childish it was that it would annoy her to no end.

"Up yours, Trunks-Ouji!" she yelled back, not turning around.

* * *

Hoping ChiChi didn't blow her top at the kid, Kat ditched Gohan halfway back to his house. She gave him an excuse that even she found lame but she wasn't in the mood for thinking up one that sounded even remotely plausible. Besides the woman should know that the strongest person on Chikyuu-sei wasn't really going to run into too much trouble with muggers.

Skimming the treetops, she flew towards a rocky crag in the distance. The wind buffeted her as she got closer and managed to toss her against the cliff face before she could right herself. Winded, she regained her balance and landed softly on the edge and walked away from the tearing winds. She hopped over the boulders strewn here and there as she made her way over to the smoother side of the mountain. After a few minutes she found what she was looking for.

The pterodactyls glanced nonchalantly up at her. She was no threat to them, as they well knew after several weeks of her simply sitting and watching them. Which is what she did now. A few days ago the large eggs of the couple had hatched and they were both busy trying to keep their youngster's mouth full.

Overhead the sun dipped lower in the sky as the two enormous creatures worked. Kat sat silently, taking in each detail, relishing the silence and the peace that the small family gave her. A sudden tingling jerked her to attention and she pulled the small cell phone from her pocket. It was Bulma.

"Hey boss, what's up?"

"Just checking up on you my loyal employee. And also I want to speak to Trunks, can you put him on?"

"I haven't seen Trunks for a couple of hours Bulma."

There was silence. "Oh but I thought you guys had gone to the pictures."

Kat sighed. "We did but I took Gohan home early and then went to check up on something." She smiled as she watched one of the baby pterodactyls clamber awkwardly around the nest. "Hasn't he come back yet?"

"If he'd come back I wouldn't be calling you now, would I?"

Kat idly picked at a loose thread in her t-shirt.

"Kat, are you all right?"

"Fine. Why?"

"It's just not like you to be all quiet like this. What happened?"

"Nothing but…I've been thinking."

"Thinking. Oh no what a terrible thing to have done," Bulma replied sarcastically. "You make it sound like you killed someone." There was a pause. "You didn't, did you?"

"Of course not!"

"Sorry, sorry, standard question for a Saiya-jin. So what were you thinking about?"

Kat looked back down at the small family in front of her. "You know, I think it will be better if I tell you face to face."

* * *

ChiChi viciously stirred the batter for the cake she was making. "I can't believe she did that! Has she no idea of responsibility at all? What if something had happened? When I see her again I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!"

Gohan sat at the kitchen table. He had come home and long given up any thought of trying to study. As soon as ChiChi had seen him – alone – she had started and with his mother yelling, there was no way he could concentrate.

_Why'd she and Trunks have to start fighting anyway? She was acting like he was Vegeta or something and Trunks looked so angry; I've never heard him yell before. At least not to anyone who wasn't Vegeta._ The young boy sighed. _Quantum physics is easier to work out than this._

"What if there was an emergency? How is anyone supposed to find her?" ChiChi continued.

"She has her cell, Kassan."

"Do you have the number?"

"Uh, no."

"Irresponsible! How could Bulma have given her such an important job? She can't even look after one boy for four hours!"

Gohan sighed and settled in for a night of it.

* * *

Light flashed as Vegeta batted away a stray ki blast. It bounced off a reflector and he flipped to dodge it. His back was bathed in warmth as it exploded against the inner shell of the gravity machine. He grinned. Today was a good day. He had overheard one of the most pleasing conversations of his life. Not that he eavesdropped all the time – that would be dishonourable. But this, this had been too good an opportunity to pass up.

The onna had definitely not been happy with Kakarott's sister; that had been plain as soon as he had entered the house. If the onna had been any louder he would have had to cover his ears. The girl was probably half deaf already and having his son screaming 'Creet!" at the top of his lungs didn't help much either.

He floated over to the console and increased the gravity again before setting the parameters for the next exercise. None of them would be happy with her by the time the news got around, which meant he would be seeing a lot less of the brat. Hope wasn't something he'd been taught to hold onto but the thought of the girl actually moving out wouldn't leave his mind.

The small reflectors moved into position. He was in such a good mood that he might even let Trunks use the gravity room on his own tonight.

* * *

The sun had just dipped below the horizon as Trunks landed in Capsule Corp.'s back yard. He glanced over at the Gravity machine. Lights shone through the windows telling him that Vegeta was still inside. He thought about asking to spar, and then thought better of it, knowing full well the futility of that. Sighing he turned and trudged inside.

After he had left Kat and Gohan in the city he had wandered around for a good three hours, doing absolutely nothing. He had walked through several malls and he knew that more than a few girls had followed him only giving up when their feet had gotten tired. He had wanted to be alone but that wish wasn't granted as he had run into Krillen. The short man had obviously been up for a conversation and had held him up for the longest half an hour Trunks had ever lived through. He hadn't taken in a word and had been saved only by chance.

Krillen had spotted Juuhachi-gou walking by through the large glass windows of a department store and had excused himself hurriedly to follow her. Trunks was so distracted that he hadn't even felt disgust as his friend chased after his enemy.

Eventually after his hours of wandering Trunks had found himself back outside the theatre they'd been earlier that day. The place was alive with light and people laughed and talked loudly as they walked in and out of the heated building. They passed him by without noticing. _I should have known better_, he'd thought as he watched the people around him, _she is only sixteen after all, no matter how smart she is; just like Gohan's only a kid under all his strength._ A girl Kat's age walked past dragging her father by the hand._ I shouldn't have expected her to understand._ He had turned and looked down the street at the ice cream store. _She couldn't have understood. She probably wondered why I was so angry._ He smirked. _And was annoyed because I reminded her of Otousan._ He stood for a while longer, until the crowds had disappeared inside. Then he decided to go home.

As he walked through the back door into the kitchen he met Bulma coming the other way. She was all dressed up and hurriedly trying to put an earring on.

"Oh, Trunks. Thank goodness." Now she was hopping on one foot, trying to get her shoe on. "The baby's upstairs and asleep. If he wakes up there's food in the fridge. Vegeta's dinner is in there as well. I won't be back till late and you know where the emergency numbers are." Now she was applying lipstick using the fridge as a mirror.

"What about the others?"

Bulma grabbed her bag off the table. "Kassan dragged Tousan to some society ball," her face pulled into an angry scowl, "and Kat won't be back for a couple of weeks." Composing herself she sighed. "Have fun," she called as she ran out the door.

Trunks stood in the kitchen, struck dumb and was still standing there when Vegeta walked in, smiling. _A couple of weeks? But…I'll be gone by then._

_

* * *

_

**Author's note:**

I am so, so sorry for how long it has taken for me to get this chapter out. hangs head in shame I just couldn't find the way to link through to the end of the story (of course it doesn't help that I just spent a month in Alaska).

I write quite badly you see. No planning ever really occurs within my head and it definitely never makes it down on to paper. I wrote those first six chapters in a row, and then wrote a bunch of stuff for the end of the story. Chapter seven was lucky as I had a flash of inspiration for the second half.

Another thing I shouldn't be trying to do is write…let me think…I think it's eight fics at the same time. sigh Bad planning! Bad! You see the sad thing is I prefer the sequel to this story than I do this one. Yes that's right! Groan loudly! Kat won't disappear after this is ended! laughs evilly as she crushes dreams of all young fic readers everywhere Unfortunately I have to finish this one first grr. I daresay not many people will like me by the end of this first instalment but do not let that put you off reading! It won't be happening for a while yet.

I have to thank all of those who reviewed. It has been months since they were posted but I reread them again just before I wrote this and they made me cringe in shame because they liked my story and I failed them by not writing anything for four months.

Once again I apologize and beg you to keep reading and reviewing (because otherwise you'll never get to see the sequel which, in my opinion, is better) and I hope you all have a lovely day.

Sayonara,

Karete.


	9. Nothing goes the way you want

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 **Another Time**

****

By Karete-chan 

**Chapter 9: Nothing goes the way you want.**

In a place where there was no sound, something beeped. It was an important sound and had it been a conscious entity would have been annoyed that no one was around to here it and gasp in awe. As it was the tinny beep was lost in the dark void. But that one beep started something. First there was a small flashing light, then gradually a rumbling could be heard, or would have been heard were there anyone around to hear it.

The spinning asteroid slowed to a stop before a blast of air set it moving slowly on a new course. In the distance stars began to wink into sight. Inside, something stirred and blinked.

*****

She went as far as she could, putting the greatest distance between them; her small bag slung over her shoulder. All her possessions were in there. She had left only enough odds and ends to make it seem as if she were going to return; a few photos in frames and some old clothes in her cupboard. Even some random circuit parts strewn across her desk.

The girl known as Kat, or for the past month and a half as Son Kat, sat staring out over her balcony at the lights of the twinkling city beyond. It was all she had done for the entire week she had been away but the identity of the sprawling metropolis was still unknown. Not that she cared; she hadn't left the room and only answered the door for room service. The money she had made working for Bulma was quickly dwindling away.

She didn't belong. Even before she had woken into this world she had known that and now that she was here it was worse. Perhaps leaving the others had been the wrong decision; at least there they had been like her. For the first time in her life there had been a reason for why she was the way she was. Of course there was still nothing to tell her who. The only people who could tell her that, were dead.

She shivered, her body had been telling her that she was too cold for at least an hour but the only thing she had done to remedy it was let her hair down to fall over her shoulders. Above her the dark clouds swirled and smelled strongly of rain. She half wished it would, even though her balcony had no cover.

A slight gap in the cloud cover began to manifest and grow larger. She turned towards it slightly and the light of the moon struck her face. Flinching, she turned away. The place where her tail had been tingled – another mystery that had been solved – remnant of the true power her body should have held but it also made the emptiness inside her worse. Where there was usually a dull ache now hurt like a physical blow. She had a theory of why this was so.

As far as she knew, human and Saiya-jin biology was not all that different, apart from the few obvious traits, so it was fair enough to assume that like human twins, Saiya-jin twins would hold some sort of empathy for each other. Yet the emptiness she felt seemed more than a slight empathic inkling. Her soul knew that her brother was no longer there. It called and received no reply. Not the silence that is met when someone doesn't answer but the echoing void of someone who is not there at all.

This was theory of course; there was nothing to prove it. Her thoughts drifted to her space pod. It was more than likely that there was something in there that could explain or even prove her idea but she'd never find out because she couldn't read any of it. Vegeta could…but she'd be damned if she was going to ask that egotistical vegetable-head to help. She growled under her breath but it tapered off into a sigh. It wasn't worth it. She couldn't be bothered any more.

The clouds broke open. The rain began to fall and she looked up into the clouds, wondering what Dende and Piccolo were up to at the moment. Her heart clenched as she thought of Kami. He was the only father figure she had ever had. She wrenched her mind away from it. No mother, no father, no brothers, just Gohan and ChiChi. Not that that was a bad thing; they were good enough to her but she felt that ChiChi thought that she was just a distraction to Gohan and Gohan, well, he was just a kid.

Rain ran down her neck and soon soaked through her shirt. What was she doing? Working at Capsule Corp.? Living her stupid childhood dream? What a joke. She just didn't want to any more. She didn't want to do anything.

*****

Bulma's fingers paused above her laptop. Her mind registered the sound but her ears were taking their time deciding if they had actually heard it. She took a guess.

"Hello Trunks."

This time the sound was distinct. The person pushed off the wall and walked towards her, pulled over a chair and sat down. Her fingers resumed typing.

"Have you decided when you're going?"

"Friday," her son answered, "but after dinner."

"That's good. You should invite ChiChi and Gohan around to say goodbye."

Trunks was silent.

"If you don't want anything else Trunks…I'm really busy at the moment. Uyki hasn't been keeping these files up to date or finishing her lab work before she leaves."

"Gohan wanted to know if we'd heard anything."

"About?"

"Kaasan," Trunks' tone indicated that she knew.

Bulma sighed. "She left at our busiest time of year, you can't expect me to just get over that can you? No warning Trunks and no reason either."

"Gohan says he can't sense her anywhere."

"So? She's probably just keeping her ki down. Or can't you sense her either?"

"I can't," he began, "but she's still here. Though keeping her ki that low is dangerous. She wouldn't have any strength and she's only a small person."

"Trunks, if she gets in trouble, she's not stupid enough to let herself get hurt."

"She's stubborn enough to."

Bulma sighed. "You know what? I really don't want to talk about it now. Okay?"

Trunks nodded. "Okay."

Bulma turned and watched him go. Cursing to herself silently about stupid insensitive Saiya-jins, she turned back and tried to force her mind to think of work.

*****

It was a miracle really. Here she was, sitting in this Kami-forsaken tree the whole day with Gohan sitting in the house and he hadn't noticed her. The air car seemed to drive off with painstaking slowness. When it finally disappeared over the horizon, or in this case behind the furthest clump of trees she could see, Kat jumped lightly from the tree.

Keeping her senses open she slipped inside the house. ChiChi never locked it for the very good reason that she was so far from anyone who would bother to come all the way out here to steal…Kat let her eyes take in the room…nothing. The only thing in the room that was of any immediate value was the television and even that was at least two decades out of date. She looked at it wistfully. She had used to watch shows at the mall on that model.

Shaking herself she snuck through the house heading for ChiChi's room. This was something she couldn't ask her sister in-law, otherwise she wouldn't be sneaking around like a common thief. The door squeaked slightly on its hinges at her gentle push and her dark eyes swept the room, falling on the cupboard. Inside, clothes didn't quite hide the telltale bulge of several boxes. She pulled them out.

They were labelled. Kat sighed in relief. At least she didn't have to go through everything, she felt bad enough about this as it was. Finding the one she wanted, she eased the lid off and pulled out the leather bound book on top, flipping it open.

Gokou grinned back up at her from the glossy photograph. Kat sighed. So, that's what he looked like. Sitting cross-legged on the floor she slowly made her way through the photo album. She could understand why ChiChi had packed away all her photographs. The sadness was welling up in her just looking at him and she hadn't known him as well as ChiChi. She hadn't really known him at all. Sighing she closed the album, then opened it again and removed a small photo from near the back.

Packing the boxes back in the cupboard she left, trying not to look at the smiling faces of Gohan, the only photographs that ChiChi had left out.

Outside she grabbed her bag from the tree and fished around inside. She popped the capsule and placed the picture of her brother inside the small box. Then, repacking her things she popped another capsule, jumped on the jet bike and sped off towards the highway.

*****

Vegeta scowled. The boy thought he didn't know. Thought that no one would notice when he snuck out in the middle of the night. He watched Trunks now as he went through some warm up exercises with one of the weakling humans. Hmpf.

It was pure coincidence that he'd seen him the first time and if the boy hadn't looked so guilty he wouldn't have given it another moments thought. But the boy knew he was doing something wrong and it would have been immediately obvious, even to Kakarott.

The boy was going to the brat. Or at least so Vegeta thought. Trunks always came back at the same time, just before dawn, and snuck in through the slightly ajar window he had left. Once Vegeta had snuck into his room after he was sure the boy was asleep. To his surprise there had been no trace of her. Not even a lingering scent. Either the boy was being very careful about leaving her scent on him; but why would he bother unless he knew Vegeta was watching, which Vegeta was sure he didn't; or he hadn't been going to her at all; he was only looking for her.

Whichever one it was made no real difference to Vegeta, he simply disliked the fact that his son was weak enough to be so concerned about her. Trunks performed a spin kick, far to slow to have ever been effective against his father but it sent Krillen flying, and landed lightly in a crouch, waiting patiently for the small man to get his bearings back. _He's probably thinking of her right now_, Vegeta thought,_ his moves are sloppy today_. It gave him cause to scowl again.

Vegeta knew very well why he disliked the brat. She grated on every nerve he had, she defied him even worse than Kakarott and behaved even more un-Saiya-jin like than her dead brother. Running away - it was a coward's path. At least Kakarott had never contemplated it. Not even her weakling elder brother Radditz had ever had the thought cross his mind. That damn Namek-jin that had called himself the god of Chikyuu-sei had planted too many un-Saiya-jin ideas in her infant head. She enjoyed tinkering with things almost as much as she loved fighting. School. It made people soft headed. Just look at Kakarott's brat. The boy can't hurt a fly.

Still, Trunks was leaving in a few days and then all this nonsense would be over. All he could hope for was that Karete wouldn't turn up before then.

*****

Gohan had decided to study outside that day. ChiChi watched him through her kitchen window trying to decide when would be the most appropriate time to take him a snack. The young boy sat with his back to the brilliant sunlight casting a shadow over the white pages so that he wasn't blinded by the glare. He made a note then turned the page. Satisfied that he was too engrossed at the moment ChiChi returned to the pile of dishes heaped by the sink.

Trunks had been by yesterday with the Chibi in tow. It always cast a strange feeling of unease when she saw the two of them together. It was like they were breaking some unspoken rule of the universe. But the cheerfulness of the baby always put her at ease. She smiled softly to herself. Bulma's son was so well behaved and if he grew up to be anything like his counterpart, he would be a son to be proud of. Hopefully his cheerfulness and manners would rub off onto her baby. She glanced out the window again. Gohan was going to be so excited when he found out he was going to have a little brother or sister. She still hadn't told anybody and she was bursting to tell the news but she had promised herself that she was going to wait. The smile fell from her face. She had been so cross when Kat had failed to turn up to dinner that night and she knew Gohan had tiptoed around her for a few days afterward. They were family and she was going to tell them first, together. As sweet as her son was, he would inevitably let it slip if she told him first. Kat would have kept her mouth shut. Now if she waited much longer someone would inevitably guess.

ChiChi's frown of disapproval became a frown of worry. She missed her sister-in-law more than she cared to admit, only having known the girl for such a short time. She disapproved of the way the girl was always interrupting Gohan's studies; she disapproved of the fact that Bulma had given her such an important job at such a young age, even though Gohan had explained how smart she was ChiChi believed she should still be in school like all good young girls; she disliked the way that she looked so much like Gokou, although it was only when she smiled really and the fault wasn't hers. But she missed the way the girl offered help, kept her father out of her hair and was unconsciously keeping her company.

Looking up into the sky ChiChi half expected to see the girl streak down and leave yet another set of scorch marks on her lawn. As if on cue, Gohan suddenly looked up and turned around. ChiChi's heart gave a little jump and she lent out the window to see down the side of the house. She could just see the dark speck hovering over the treetops and not for the first time wished she could sense ki. The dot gradually got bigger as it approached them.

The large pterodactyl flew overhead, casting a shadow over the whole house. Gohan waved at it cheerfully as it passed then settled back to his work. ChiChi scowled. The giant flying reptiles were the other things she disapproved of. She wished fervently that Gokou had never made friends with them. They were just more things she couldn't compete with.

More than once she had wished she could have stopped Gohan from flying after them when he was younger. But she couldn't fly, even though she was well aware that she could have learnt. More then once she had resolved herself to ask Gokou to teach her but something had always happened to prevent her doing so. She had never dreamed of asking Gohan, he was far to busy studying to become a great scholar. So, when Kat had come along she knew it had been her chance. She had had a hard time of it when Gohan was born and back then she had still been training. Now with the new baby, she wanted to train again, knowing very well her lack of discipline the last few years had put her out of shape. Kat had been her answer and ChiChi had hoped that her sister-in-law would understand, being a girl herself and, presumably one who would go through the same thing one day.

ChiChi grinned to herself. If you ever listened to anything Bulma said, that time might come sooner rather than later. _Probably later_, ChiChi thought. _Bulma and Trunks have to get over being angry with her first and besides, Kat is even younger than when Gokou and I first got together. And if they did have children, how would they explain to chibi Trunks that he was playing with his son?_

*****

It was nice of them, he conceded but he wished they'd leave. Trunks watched as his mother, no, not his mother, she was…he sighed. She _was_ his mother, just a happier version. Her eyes were shining now as her friends surrounded her, while every now and then she would steal a glance at Vegeta, who sat in a shadowed corner of the room.

Glancing up at the clock, he rolled his eyes. He wanted to get going but unfortunately the others seemed to want to draw this out at long as possible. Yamcha suggested another round of charades to many boos and hisses and sulked off to a corner looking dejected. Trunks smiled. He felt sorry for the guy but maybe this meant that they wanted to wrap things up now.

Standing, he tried to look like he wanted to go. This meant he edged towards the door, while staring at and shuffling his feet. Bulma got the hint.

"I'm just going to walk Trunks out," she announced to the world in general. This was followed by shouts of farewell and good luck and Gohan announcing that he was coming with them. Trunks smiled and followed his mother.

Just before he walked through the doorway he glanced over at Vegeta. The man gave him a curt nod and a small movement of his hand. Trunks knew that that was as much of a 'goodbye son, I love you' as he would get from his father. He nodded back before exiting down the front hall. His mother and Gohan were waiting as he stepped out the door but he cast his eyes around anyway. There was no one else there and he couldn't help but feel disappointed. Where was she? She would have been able to tell – the way theirs ki's had gathered - that something was going on. And knowing that this group only got together for special occasions, she should have come back.

Even though he had had time to think, what she had done still gnawed at him. Trunks knew now that they had both acted in the wrong way and he had been fully prepared to apologize if she was. He sighed and a slight frown graced his features. He wasn't going to seek her out. If she wanted to say goodbye, she would but he had a feeling that she wouldn't, and that hurt more than he cared to admit.

"You'll come and see us again, won't you?" his mother was asking.

He nodded absently. "I will but I've had my holiday. There's so much work to be done back home. Rebuilding and all that."

She nodded. "Well, we'll see you when we see you," she smiled but it didn't hide the sadness in her eyes. She pulled him into a sudden hug. "I'll miss you Trunks."

Trunks felt the blush spread across his face.

Sniffing, Bulma took a step back. "Sorry."

"It's all right," he answered, giving her a small grin. He put his hand on Gohan's head. "Look after you kaasan, okay?"

"You bet," Gohan grinned up at him.

Trunks ruffled his hair. "I'm going to pop the capsule over there," he said, inclining his head towards the adjoining field. "You can go back in, it's cold out."

"But…" Gohan began. Bulma put a hand on the boy's shoulder, silencing him. She could see in her son's eyes that he wanted to be left alone.

"Okay," she said softly. "Take care Trunks."

He smiled. "I will," he answered as they disappeared into the house.

Trunks didn't move for a few moments afterward, then he turned and made his way to the empty field.

The wind blew a cold chill down his spine as he walked, the dark grove of trees on one side of the field bending and swaying to the breeze. He heard a branch crack and fall to the ground but it was too dark to see where.

The cloud of smoke created by the capsule blew away quickly and Trunks was grateful when the domed hatch finally closed, leaving the chilling wind outside. He punched the now familiar buttons and felt the machine hum to life beneath him. Then he was lifting into the air. The time machine gave a slight wobble as it hit a strong gust then the scene before him disappeared and Trunks began his long journey home.


	10. Out of the frying pan

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 **Another Time **

By Karete-chan 

**Chapter 10: Out of the frying pan...**

Kat sat with her back propped against the trunk of a large tree. She held a torch in one hand as she silently flipped through the pages of a magazine. She wasn't really reading the material; instead she was periodically testing the air for any changing scents and sounds from the building upwind of her. Also the breeze was making it hard for her to hold the pages still.

Sighing she turned the torch off and closed her eyes. Her sensitive ears picked up every little sound as the soft breeze moved through the grass and birds shifted in their sleep in the branches above her. Her senses told her that nearly all of them were there. Piccolo being the exception and Juuhachi-gou thinking it was crass to attend a party for a boy who's world her other self had destroyed. And of course there was herself. Never mind how stupid she felt sitting out here in the dark reading a dumb-arse girls magazine, there was no way in hell that she was going into that building. Sure she could be mature and apologize in front of everyone but she wasn't going to. No way, uh uh. Besides, Kat had already made her decision. And that was that with her; once she had made up her mind she plunged head first into it. It was one of the reasons she ended up in messes like this in the first place.

She tested the air again. In order for this to work she was going to have to time it perfectly; too early and she'd get caught; too late and she'd miss her chance. Kat peered out from behind the large tree. From here she had a perfect view of the backdoor of Capsule Corp. All the lights in the place were blazing and shadows moved across the curtained windows. Turning back again she closed her eyes and sighed. How much longer was she going to have to wait?

Her mind drifted. Bulma and Gohan's unhappy faces flashed past on their way to making her feel guilty. No, she reminded herself, she couldn't go back. One more day with pitiful looks being cast her way or being tormented by Vegeta. She couldn't stand it. Besides, they didn't really want her there; she was only in their way. Kat cringed as she remembered what Bulma had said to her before she'd left.

_Nothing but trouble! Sometimes I think Vegeta's right about you!_

No. She would most definitely not be going back.

Her ears pricked up as a noise interrupted her thoughts. Poking her head out from around the tree again she saw Bulma and Gohan step out onto the back porch. Trunks followed them soon after. As quietly as she could she sunk down lower to the ground and hoisted her bag over her shoulder.

She couldn't quite hear what they were saying but enough words were catching the wind to tell her that Trunks was about to leave. That and Bulma's scent had gone from being content to being sad. As Kat lay there she wondered if the other two could smell it at all. She knew that Gohan didn't have quite the nose she did but he was standing much closer to the blue-haired human so he must have been able to smell something, even if he didn't know what it was.

Kat watched as Bulma and Gohan went back inside. Trunks watched them until the door had closed then walked away from the house towards the outlying fields. She lowered her ki to practically nothing and crept after him, trying to keep herself hidden in the tree line. He stopped just inside the field nearest to her. A gust of wind blew sharply for a minute and Kat barely heard the crack. The tree branch fell neatly where she had just been standing, creating a nice dent in the ground. Her head whipped around to find Trunks and her heart began beating double time as she found him staring straight at her.

She froze where she stood, feeling like the biggest fool. Then he turned back to what he was doing. _He…didn't see me?_ She sighed and almost gave herself away again as the smoke from the popped capsule wafted over her making her gag.

Kat recovered in time to see Trunks climb inside the time machine and the dome click shut. Silently thanking Kami that he faced away from her, she darted from the trees. She swung her bag in front of her as she ran and managed to grab a hold of one of the landing struts just as the machine took to the air. The time machine dipped a little her way as her weight put it off balance. Kat looked up and confirmed that Trunks wouldn't be able to see her short of opening the dome. Then a sudden bright light blinded her and she spent the next few minutes blinking at whiteness.

When her vision finally cleared the sight that met her eyes almost gave her a headache. Coloured lights flashed at her from every direction so she forced herself to stare at the underbelly of the time machine. It left her to block out the immense roaring in her ears. _If I end up deaf after this I can't say I didn't deserve it._

The cold was the next thing she noticed so she raised her ki to keep it out. She figured that it was too late for Trunks to turn back now, even if he did notice her. Leaning her head against the cold metal she wondered if Trunks had heating in the one-person machine. _Probably has a CD-player too. _Suddenly there was another blinding flash and Kat found herself now looking at a very pockmarked dirt ground.

Kat glanced around. It was still dark in this future world but even so she could make out that the field, minus the grass, was almost exactly the same. Her feet touched the dirt before the machine landed and she dashed for the trees. When she felt she was hidden sufficiently she turned back to watch Trunks. He gave no indication that he knew that she was there and when he packed away the machine and walked off, Kat decided he wasn't just pretending.

Once again she followed Trunks as he walked. In the darkness Kat's keen eyes could see the damage that had been done to the domed building of Capsule Corporation. Just like in the other world most of the lights were blazing but Kat's ears picked up the faint sound of a generator. Trunks opened the door and went inside.

She sat in the dark for a while just watching the building. Then she reached into her bag, pulled out a capsule and popped it. Her jet bike appeared and she jumped on and headed off towards the city, locating it by the kami-awful smell it seemed to have in this world. She looked up at the night sky. The stars were still the same. She smiled to herself. Yes. This was the right decision.

*****

The screen door banged shut behind him. "Kaasan! I'm back!" he called. 

"Trunks?" came the reply. "I expected you back days ago!"

He followed the voice up the stairs. "Something came up," he said. "So I hung around a little longer. Why?" he asked as he entered the room. "Did you miss me?"

Bulma turned from her desk, frowning at her son's smirk. "Yes. I also wanted help with patching the roof. I can't lift those sheets of metal on my own you know. _And_," she continued, "because the roof wasn't patched I now have a flooded lab that has to be cleaned and a generator that has to be repaired."

"Welcome home son," Trunks said. "How was your trip? Did you have a nice time? Was the weather good? How is everyone?"

"Ha, ha," Bulma muttered as she got up and hugged him. "Of course I want to know how the trip was. I just worried that something might have gone wrong."

Trunks felt a stab of guilt at this. "I'm sorry kaasan."

She pushed away from him and headed downstairs. "No. You needed your holiday. You deserved it. Besides," she said turning to grin at him. "I have a surprise for you."

"Not another blind date?" he asked warily.

"No, no," she said, waving her hand at him. "Much better than that."

"Oh? So what is it?"

"You'll never guess. I have to admit that I had a little help but…"

Trunks stood so suddenly that he knocked his chair over. He dashed to the window and looked outside. Nothing but darkness greeted him. He could feel his heart racing as he concentrated and scanned the area again.

Nothing.

"Trunks? Trunks are you okay? Is there something out there?"

He turned back to his mother's concerned face.

"I thought I felt something," he answered glancing out the window again. "But it was nothing."

Bulma eyed her son carefully. "You don't look like it was nothing. You've gone all pale." She paused. "Was it a person?"

"Yeah."

"Oh," she said lightly, turning back to make the tea. "It was probably just those young hooligans again. They've been hanging around for a couple of weeks." She put a cup down in front of him. "Yep, hooligans. That's what it was."

Trunks looked at his mother's smiling face, knowing full well that she was not to be trusted when she smiled like that.

"Yeah," he agreed softly. "Hooligans." _She's such a bad liar. I don't know what you're planning kaasan but I know what I felt. I have to see Dende next free chance I get._

*****

Dende stood on the edge of the compound and smiled. He had been keeping track of the flying craft for a while now as it slowly made its ascent towards him. It was slightly amusing for the young Namek-jin since it had been a good while since anyone had come to visit. He watched as the craft finally broke through the cloud cover below him and frowned. It was spewing smoke from its small engine, yet the driver kept urging the thing onward.

As in neared the lip of the compound the craft suddenly shuddered to a halt. His ears picked up the faint sound of someone swearing before the small craft exploded. He sighed and shook his head in sympathy for the person inside. The next instant a hand was flung over the edge. Dende took an involuntary step backward as the hand pulled up the person behind it.

The dark-haired girl froze as she spotted his feet, then seemed to shake herself and mutter some thing that sounded like, "oh yeah, future."

He gazed down at her as she looked up.

"Konbonwa, Dende-sama," she said grinning.

Despite his surprise at her using his real name and the fact that she had survived the destruction of her craft, the Guardian of Chikyuu-sei smiled back at her. "Anything I can help you with today, child?"

"Yes," she answered as she climbed over the edge and stood up. "Well, not you as such. I was hoping I could speak to Mr. Popo."

Dende lent nonchalantly on his staff and raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" he said, looking down at her, "and why is that?"

"Good to see you haven't changed much," she remarked lightly as her eyes scanned the meagre gardens. "You're still as nosy as ever."

"It comes with…"

"…the job description. I know." Stepping past him she headed towards the large domed building.

Dende frowned. "Child," he said without turning. "Why did you force your craft to come up here? You have no way of getting down."

"Getting down is no problem, I have anther ship. I would've flown but then Trunks would be able to find me."

_Trunks? _Dende thought. _How does she know him?_ He turned as the girl broke into a jog.

"Mr. Popo!" she cried as the short man walked around the corner, watering can in hand.

The watering can fell to the ground, spilling its contents as Mr. Popo suddenly became rooted to the spot. "By Kami-sama," Dende heard him say. "Kat."

*****

Trunks wiped the sweat back from his forehead. They hadn't had a summer like this in years. He finished welding the last bit of metal into place then jumped of the roof and headed inside. It wasn't any better so he stuck his head in the refrigerator for a few moments. 

He was just beginning to feel cool when the doorbell rang and Bulma yelled at him to get it. Grumbling he trudged towards the door and threw it open.

"Well, if I'm going to be greeted like this every time I'm definitely going to visit more often," the woman on the doorstep quipped as she took in Trunks' shirtless and dishevelled appearance.

His cheeks went pink. "Can I help you?"

"You must be Trunks but sadly, as much as I'd like to hang around with you, I was looking for Bulma."

"Sugi? Is that you?" Bulma called from inside somewhere.

"Hai Bulma-san!" she took a step past Trunks. "I know my way. Ja ne, Trunks!"

He watched her saunter off down the corridor. _She better not be my surprise_, he thought darkly. He really wasn't in the mood for another 'fling' at the moment.

Spotting the shopping list on the table he saw his way out of the house for a while and a possible trip to Dende. Of course he might have to find a shirt first. 

*****

Well if this wasn't hugely entertaining he didn't know what was. Could this planet throw up anything else at this one band of people? It seemed like all they ever did was fend off threats and meet long lost family members.

After hearing her story from Mr. Popo, Dende had felt obliged to offer the girl a place to stay. She'd quite happily declined, insisting that she'd found herself a nice little hovel down in the city and was quite happy to stay there until she had sorted out some financial stuff with the dodgy ship vendor and talked Trunks into letting her stay at Capsule Corp.

Dende smiled to himself. Ah yes, Trunks. He had known that something was bothering the man as soon as he'd appeared back in this world. It made things so much easier to know what it was. Dende felt almost certain that Trunks would welcome Kat's presence more than she would ever know.

Of course he would have to make some excuses to keep her around for another day or so, just until everything at Capsule Corp. was ready. It would be quite disastrous if she turned up too early. He knew he shouldn't be meddling in the affairs of the people he watched over, especially after the huge favour he'd asked, but in truth this wasn't meddling, this was helping friends and he could do that for as long as he wanted.

*****

The phone call came just as he was leaving the market. Trunks glared at the stray pack of dogs with malice as they eyed his bags of food eagerly. He found a park bench and set his things down to search for the cellular he knew he had on him somewhere. 

He flipped open the phone to see his mother's number flashing on the screen. 

"Hey kassan. What's up?" 

He heard her humph on the other end of the line. "Where are you?" 

"At the market. Why?" 

There was a scrabbling on the other end and he knew she had covered the mouthpiece with her hand. He sighed, no matter how many times he told her, she never remembered that he could still hear her. A gravely voice answered. 

Trunks felt his heart skip a beat. There was a man, at his house, with his mother. Panic rose up inside him, and then suddenly stopped. What was he worrying about? That Sugi woman was there. The man was probably part of the team as well. Unless…had his mother fallen in love again? Was that his surprise? A stepfather? 

Trunks felt suddenly cold. 

"Trunks? Are you there?" 

"I'm here," he answered stiffly. 

"Can you come home now? Your surprise is ready." 

Her words only seemed to confirm his suspicions. "Sure kassan. I'll be there soon." He hung up. 

Lifting his bags, he took to the sky, all thoughts of seeing Dende gone from his mind. 

*****

The Capsule Corp. grounds looked different in the fading daylight. They were even more decrepit than she had first thought. Kat stared up at the immense structure. Mentally calculating how much material and how long it would take, to patch the building up again. _Although_, she thought as her eye caught a glint of new metal, _someone has already started_.

Setting her shoulders she revved her bike and drove in near the door. She smiled as she noticed that Bulma hadn't seen fit to change the little jingle of the doorbell even after twenty years although it didn't surprise her too much. She was surprised to hear lots of voices coming from inside. It almost sounded like they were having a party. _A welcome home get together no doubt. Any bet this is why Dende told me to wait until today. I wonder if ChiChi is here?_ Her ears picked up the sound of shoes clicking on the front hall tiles.

Kat tried to put on her best 'I'm-nice-so-please-don't-kill-me' look just in case it was Trunks that answered. The lock clicked and the door swung open.

"Hello?"

Kat gasped in shock. It was Bulma. A Bulma that were it not for the few lines under her eyes and around her mouth could have passed for the one she had just left a few days ago. The blue haired woman smiled at her. Kat had really expected her to be grey haired or something. "Bulma," she breathed.

The older woman's smile dropped and her features creased in confusion. "Can I help you miss?"

Kat panicked, she had come fully prepared for a shouting match with Trunks. Now she was dealing with a complete stranger whom she knew very well. What was the best way to handle Bulma? Directly. "Uh…I…er…I was wondering if I could speak to Trunks?"

Bulma gave her the once over and slowly a knowing smile made its way on to her lips. "Oh. I…see."

Kat felt her face tinge red. "Uh, no. That's not why I'm here. Uh, could you just tell him that his babysitter is here? He'll understand."

"Uh huh. Babysitter, right," Bulma said, smiling wryly at her.

Kat sighed. Bulma really could become fixed on an idea. "Please. I'll wait here."

"Okay." Bulma turned back into the house. "Kids these days. Don't tell their parents anything," she mumbled to herself. She disappeared around a corner and a few moments later Kat heard catcalls and whistles floating down the hall. The young girl shook her head. _Bakas_, she thought as Trunks came backing out of the room.

"I swear Kassan. I don't know what you're talking about." He turned to the door and the look of shock on his face was almost amusing. "Kat!"

Trying to suppress her grin she gave him a small wave. "Hi."

"So you don't know her but you know her name. That's convenient," Bulma commented dryly as she tried to look over Trunks' shoulder. He ignored her.

"How…? Did Dende tell you were we were?" he asked.

Kat looked back at him blankly. "Why would Dende need to tell me?"

Trunks opened his mouth to answer then paused as recognition flashed in his blue eyes. "Babysitter," he said softly, frowning at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly.

"Well, I was in the neighbourhood and I thought, hey, who do I know that has lots of room in their house, where there is also someone I could spar with? Then I just _happened to spot Capsule Corp. and this little light bulb just went off above my head, complete with little lines to show it was lit," Kat said jokingly._

Trunks' eyes narrowed even more. "How?"

Kat rolled her eyes. "How do you thi…" she stopped. Trunks and Bulma looked at her strangely for a moment then realized she was staring over their shoulder. Bulma turned around but Trunks already knew who was there; the rest of the party had joined them in the hall.

"Trunks you're being rude," Bulma said from behind him. "Introduce everybody. I'm dying to know who this girl is." She playfully slapped her son on the arm but before Trunks could speak Kat broke in.

"You said that they were dead," she said softly.

Trunks felt his frown fade as he looked at her face. "They were," he answered. Then before anyone could stop her, she'd pushed past Bulma and Trunks and stepped into the house.

"Gokou?" she asked of a tall man with wild black hair that stuck out in every direction.

_Well there you go then. I bet no one saw _that_ coming did they? Readers: oh no, Karete-chan that was the _last_ thing we expected to happen. _

_Humph. So it was predictable, so what? I came up with the plot line three years ago and my brain no longer works well enough to come up with something better. Besides I like it this way. _

_Now. I would really appreciate some feedback on this. I haven't got much so far but what I have has been encouraging. Unfortunately lots of people have read this fic. Not all of you can agree with the reviews that are there. Please could I have a little more feedback, than 'it was good, keep writing'? Most specifically I would like to know what you think of the plot and of Kat (and possibly how I portray the other characters). _

_This would be a great help. _

_Thank you. _


	11. But the fire isn't lit quite yet

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 **Another Time **

By Karete-chan****

**Chapter 11: …but the fire's not lit quite yet. **

The guests from the interrupted party stood in Capsule Corp.'s wide front hall, looking at the young stranger in their midst with varying degrees of interest.

"Do I know you?" Gokou asked her as she gazed up at him with wide searching eyes.

Her face broke into a huge grin. "It is you."

Gokou, unable to help himself, smiled his goofy grin right back. "Uh, Trunks? Care to shed a little light here?" he asked, gesturing towards the young girl.

Trunks sighed and shook his head. "Sure, but I guarantee you're going to think I'm nuts." He grabbed Kat none-to-gently by the arm and led her into the lounge. "Way to break up a party Kat," he hissed in her ear.

She looked him in the eyes for the first time. "I'm not stopping you," she said flatly. "Besides, I could do with a drink." He watched as her eyes travelled over the bottles sitting on the bar.

Trunks snorted as he pulled her further into the room, to clear the way for the others. "You're too young."

"Bulma didn't think so." Kat retorted sticking her nose in the air.

Slowly the rest of the party entered the room behind them. Each person watched them with growing interest as they took seats on the couches.

"C'mon Trunks, spill. Who is she?" Bulma asked again as she lowered herself into an armchair. "If she's your girlfriend I want to know about it."

Groaning, Trunks slapped his forehead and turned back to his mother. "Kassan she's not my girlfriend!"

At the same time there was a snort of laughter from Kat. "Yeah right!" she muttered as she poured over the bottles. "I could just see the look on Vegeta's face if Trunks told him we were dating. He wouldn't let a third class baka like me anywhere near his precious heir!" She laughed again. "Bulma, you sure know how to lighten the mood." She stopped as she realized the room had gone silent. "What? Have I got dirt on my nose or something?"

Vegeta pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against. "What did you say?" he asked softly.

Kat was bewildered. "Uh… Do I have dirt on my nose?"

"You can be just as dense as Gokou sometimes, Kat." Trunks crossed his arms and smirked at her. "But then again, maybe it runs in the family."

Kat's wide eyed, questioning look was quickly replaced with a scowl. "At least I'm not a half-breed brat with a superiority complex!"

Trunks took a mock step back. "Ouch. We're in a foul mood today aren't we?" he said sarcastically.

"You haven't seen the half of it," she snarled back.

The others in the room looked back and forth between the two as if they were watching a tennis match.

"Ok. Back up a bit here. What is going on?" Bulma asked, standing up.

Trunks and Kat glared at each other for another moment before turning their backs on each other. Trunks stalked across the room and threw himself in the chair furthest away from her before he decided to answer his mother's question.

"She snuck on board the time machine Kassan."

"She what now?"

"I held on to one of the legs. Like Trunks would've let me come if I asked," Kat muttered.

"You…you're from the past?" Bulma practically squealed as she looked at the two of them.

Trunks nodded.

Calming herself Bulma looked Kat up and down, which made Kat feel like she was on a microscope slide. "I don't remember her. Who is she?"

Kat lent against the bar. "I'm Gokou's twin sister." 

The eyes in the room suddenly looked comical. "What?"

Trunks sighed. "It's true."

"What?"

Kat grinned. "How about that drink?"

*****

It was surprising how fast everything seemed to just fall back into normalcy. Granted, Kat had already had practice at fitting into the lives of family she didn't really know but having the dead come back to life at the same time would make you think that it might make it a little more difficult.

Trunks sighed as he welded the last sheet of metal into place on the roof of his home. His parents had fallen back into their routine very easily after his mother stopped getting teary every time she looked at his father. Now they could have been his mother and father from the past, as if nothing had happened to separate them for nineteen years. Yet they weren't exactly the same. While they fought just as much as they did back there, they never gave the impression that they were taking each other seriously. To Trunks it almost looked like they were sharing a private joke.

He glanced down and saw Kat helping Bulma with something on the front lawn, the grass partly grown back and still very patchy in areas. He had become too used to seeing the girl around. She turned around as if knowing he was looking at her and waved up at him. He frowned at the smile on her face. When she saw his expression, hers changed to match it before stomping off after Bulma to meet an approaching truck.

_Baka_, he berated himself. _It's not like she's around often enough any more so you can just happen to run into her and have a civil conversation_. ChiChi had insisted on having the girl stay with them and Kat had all too happily agreed. As they had left she and Gokou had been chatting animatedly. They were talking about Radditz, and Gokou was having trouble keeping up with the stream of questions coming from his twin's mouth.

That was the happiest Trunks had ever seen her and the thought made him smile. He looked down at her again as she shifted crates for his mother. He shook his head again. _For Kami's sake, She's only sixteen! _

*****

As the medium sized truck pulled away from the half repaired Capsule Corp. labs two figures stood and coughed in the cloud of dust it left in its wake.

"Sure isn't a place you'd want to live in. I still can't get over the smell."

"We do the best we can. Since Trunks destroyed the androids people have been rebuilding like mad. No one to tear the buildings down again, you see."

Kat nodded. "And Capsule Corp is going to be the temporary hospital?"

Bulma nodded and turned around to shuffle through some papers that were sitting on a crate. After a moment she glanced over her shoulder at the girl, who was moving the supply boxes over near the newly repaired warehouse. Bulma sighed.

"Kat," she began, "Trunks told me what you did for the me in the past."

"Hai?" the girl answered, without breaking stride in her work.

"Well, I was thinking, and I think you'd be better off finishing your education than working here."

There was silence. "Oh," Kat answered quietly.

"The university is opening again next week so I thought it would be better if you got in early to sign up for classes. You and Trunks can go down there together since he'll be attending too."

"Uh huh."

"It would be better if you both had your degrees," the older woman sighed. "ChiChi wanted Gohan to go as well but he said he gave up on studying a long time ago." Her face brightened. "The two of you could go and see him when you go into town. He's taken up a position in one of the dojo's there. You might even be able to get a part time job helping him."

Kat smiled at this. "The day Gohan needs help showing someone how to fight is a sad day indeed."

"So you'll go?"

"Yeah. I might as well. Before I'd only completed up to the end of first year." Her face screwed up. "And it was still too easy."

"I could always have a word with the administration."

Kat's face lit up in grin.

"Oh don't be so grateful. I was going to have to do it for Trunks anyway."

*****

Having him back was like breathing clean air again. He had changed, but not so much that he wasn't the same man anymore, the man she had fallen in love with. Quietly she stepped up behind him, her feet not making a sound in the damp grass. She reached out to touch his shoulders.

"If you wanted a hug, you could just ask me," his deep voice said, laced with amusement.

Bulma scowled but hugged him from behind anyway. She should have known that just because her ears couldn't hear anything, didn't mean his couldn't.

"Something you wanted, onna?" Vegeta asked.

Bulma smiled softly. There had been a time when that simple sentence would have brought out the worst in her. "Nope."

"Then why are you out here annoying me?"

"I'm annoying am I? Guess I'll just go away then." She unwrapped her arms from around him and stepped back.

He was holding her again before she could take another. "Old habits are hard to break."

"Aren't they just?" she muttered as she lent into him.

After a while she lifted her head to look at him. "So, what were you thinking about?"

His eyes darkened.

Bulma sighed. "Please tell me you weren't thinking of challenging Gokou again."

His habitual smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I'll always be ready to challenge that baka." He frowned again. "But no, I was thinking about his wayward sibling."

"Kat? What about her?"

He let go of her and turned to watch the sparring match in the distance. "I don't know."

This time it was Bulma's turn to frown.

"She isn't what I thought she would be like," he continued. "She isn't like a normal Saiya-jin, she's not like me, or Radditz or Nappa but she isn't like Kakarott either."

"So? She's a mix of both kinds."

Vegeta shook his head. "No. That's just it. She has the anger, the violence and the insolence of a Saiya-jin but she has the emotions of a human."

Bulma sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Vegeta, what you just described is a perfect mix of human and Saiya-jin."

"And that's wrong. She had no accident when she was a child, to cause her to be like Kakarott and before you suggest that she's like a half breed, I'm sure that a pure blooded Saiya-jins genetic makeup doesn't suppress the violent and destructive urges, that the human blood does to the half breed."

"You learnt to suppress them and she has had far longer to practice."

"That's not the point. She's different up here." He tapped his head.

Bulma smirked at him. "What? You mean she has a brain?"

He scowled at her. "No, I mean in the _way_ she thinks. If she had grown up on Vegeta-sei, she would have been considered a freak."

Bulma frowned. "But I remember Gokou mentioning something about meeting his father in the other world and learning that the man was quite intelligent."

Vegeta thought for a moment. "I don't remember his name, I was probably never told it because he was third class, but he was intelligent and was the only Saiya-jin in the science division." He shook his head. "But he was still Saiya-jin! Nothing could change that fact. If you offered the daughter the choice between sparring and tinkering in a lab…she would have a hard time deciding and that's wrong."

Bulma regarded him quietly for a moment. "There's something else bothering you."

His face darkened again.

She smirked and nudged him in the ribs. "C'mon, fess up."

"She irks me."

Bulma stared at him. "That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day. You've only known the girl for five minutes." Bulma paused and eyed him carefully. "What did she do to piss you off?"

"Nothing. It's her behaviour that irks me, not what she's done to me."

"Oh? And what about it?" Out of the blue Bulma suddenly realised that this was probably one of the longest conversations she had had with her husband.

"She was running away."

Bulma looked at him incredulously. "Wouldn't you? If I knew I was…" She looked at his expression and paused. "Oh stupid question, forget I asked."

"She's stubborn, has a smart mouth and tries to act like she doesn't really care for others."

_Sounds like someone else I know_, Bulma thought.

"And she is a coward."

Bulma glanced over to where her son sat watching Gohan and Kat spar. The three were laughing, something she hadn't seen her son do in a long time.

"Vegeta, maybe…maybe there was more to it than that."

Vegeta turned and regarded the three younger Saiya-jins quietly. He slid an arm around Bulma's waist. "Perhaps."

A contented smile passed over Bulma's face. Everything she always wanted. She never thought she'd hear herself say those words again. And never while Vegeta was standing quietly, just holding her as she watched their son smile.

If anything tried to ruin this, she'd take her new laser to its head.

*****

It was happy. It sat amidst the ruins of what had once been a peaceful farming village and gloated. Happy was the one emotion apart from terrifying violence that it could convey to the outside world and that made it seem extremely insane. Of course seeming insane and being insane often walked a very thin line but in this case the creature was far on the other side and still going strong.

It was no surprise, except of course to the poor unsuspecting villagers, the planet it had been on last week, that whole solar system a couple of years ago and anything else that seemed to be in its way, since it had spent nearly its entire life in darkness and alone. Every now and then something would wake it and its biologically enhanced senses would pick up faint signals. But it never moved. It had been told to stay and it would, until the signal to move was sent.

But now, now it was free to roam. Well, it would be after it finished its mission. It grinned to itself. They were so much closer now and all in one place. It got to its feet and headed towards its ship. It could remember a time when signals from Saiya-jins used to come from everywhere.

*****

ChiChi grinned at the people surrounding her table. The chatter was as louder than it had been in years and she had almost pulled a muscle trying to get all the cooking done. Bulma had, of course, insisted on helping, much to her dismay but she had managed to distract her long time friend with repairing the electric can opener.

The food was quickly disappearing down the throats of her guests. Five Saiya-jins. She sighed happily, no doubt the food wasn't even being tasted but it was good to be able to feed a family again. She tried to stifle a giggle as Vegeta, Trunks and Kat paused in their vacuuming of her table to stare disgustedly at her husband and son's eating habits. A while ago it would have annoyed her no end but now she couldn't care less. Just like she didn't care that Vegeta was at her house either. She still wasn't fond of the man and probably never would be but she could tolerate him in her house.

Her eyes fell on Bulma who was also grinning widely at the people eating. A sobering thought suddenly overtook ChiChi as she watched the couple. Bulma looked so old sitting next to Vegeta, who looked hardly any different then he had when ChiChi had first met him. She wondered if she looked like that as she sat next to Gokou. They would have to do something about that.

A burst of laughter broke ChiChi from her thoughts and she joined in as the joke was relayed to her. She smiled happily. All she ever wanted was a family.

**Author's Note:**

To my reviewers on ff.net: 

The Questionable Who 

Heidi 

Sheena 

And those from mm.org: 

ME 

kixbra 

Thank you all very much. 

I realise this chapter is a little short but I was having a bit of trouble coming up with filler. More story line and plot in the next couple of chapters. I promise. Also I realise I made some promises that this chapter would be up by Friday but I had some issues I had to deal with. Look for the next chapter soon.


	12. Tiptoeing Around

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 **Another Time **

By Karete-chan 

**Chapter 12: Tiptoeing Around**

Orientation Day.

The day when you meet a whole bunch of strangers and try to make instant friends with them so that you don't wander around on your own for the first few weeks.

Trunks thanked Dende that he already had somebody he knew. Having grown up in a world where a group larger than twenty was a target for the androids, the huge crowd gathered on the common lawn of West City University was a little daunting.

Booths lined the walkways heading toward a large podium, promoting all the different clubs that students were able to join. Beside him Kat was diligently collecting every flier that was thrust under her nose, her eyes gleaming with excitement. His eyes travelled sideways to look into a certain booth that had caught his eye and stopped dead in the middle of the crowded walkway. A booth two up from the one he wanted to look at had a girl on a soapbox trying to shout over the din of the crowd. What made it hard for her was, one, she was short and even on the box could hardly see over the crowd and two, there were a number of extremely angry people gathered around her and shouting back.

Trunks nudged Kat in the ribs and gestured over at the booth. Slowly they forced their way through the crowd to hear what was happening.

Kat's eyes narrowed as they got closer. "I can't believe this…" she muttered.

The sign hanging inside the booth, that the girl had been standing in front of, said, in large bold lettering: 'Equal Rights for all: Androids are People too!'

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Trunks snarled, pushing his way the front.

One thing can be said about a crowd; when someone is pissed off they can't get out of the way fast enough.

Trunks reached up and grabbed the megaphone from the girl's hands.

"Hey!" she shouted indignantly. "Haven't you ever heard of freedom of speech?"

"I'm all for it," he replied scathingly. "But this is ridiculous."

The girl's face went red in fury. "Ridiculous?" she hissed. "Supporting the misunderstood is ridiculous?"

"It is when the so-called 'misunderstood' are ruthless killers," Kat said from Trunks' side.

"It was a desperate cry for attention," the girl called, now addressing the crowd. "If only we had listened…"

"They could've cried for attention without killing my parents!" someone yelled, as they hurled what looked like fruit salad from the food court at the girl. It missed and slid down the inside of the tent.

The girl looked at it in disgust. "It's narrow mindedness like that that caused these misunderstood souls to rebel the way they do."

Kat noticed that Trunks had crushed the megaphone in his fist.

"They could've rebelled by egging the mayors house like any normal person," another voice called. The crowd muttered in agreement. "Mass murder is on the insane part of the criminal scale."

"We forced them into it. We isolated them and ostracized them! We…"

"Didn't do anything, you idiot!" Trunks yelled. "They were robots, programmed to do what they did! They were having fun!"

"There's no account for how they really were," the girl replied haughtily. "I bet they wouldn't have been so destructive if only someone had listened."

"No-one was stupid enough to!" Trunks yelled.

"Yeah," someone else added, "you wouldn't have been able to get close enough."

"What about the Briefs boy?" the girl retorted. "He could get close and he didn't even try, did he?"

"Like I would have wanted to," Trunks said, finally starting to calm himself down.

The people in the crowd near him all went silent at his words. Kat could hear the mutterings of his words passed back through the crowd.

The girl on the soapbox laughed. "Are you claiming to be Trunks Briefs, destroyer of the misunderstood?"

Trunks levelled his blue-eyed gaze at her. "Yes."

The girls face went as pale as it had been red. Kat tried to stifle a snort of laughter as she realised that despite the girl's amazing ability to convince herself that the androids could have been reformed, she still had enough wits about her to realise that if Trunks had beaten them then he was really strong. And really dangerous.

The girl gave a small 'eep' and took off through the crowd.

"Nice to see you're a people person," Kat said beside Trunks.

He turned to her, his eyes still full of anger. "You expected me to be nice to an idiot like that?" he practically yelled.

Kat frowned. "Chill, Trunks. It was a joke." She eyed him warily; her frown deepening and then stomped off through the crowd.

He watched her departing back through the lingering haze of anger at the soapbox girl before his eyes widened in sudden realisation. Kat had the campus map!

Trunks moved to follow her but the crowd of students gathered around eagerly, looking at him expectantly. Trunks tried backing away only to find that they had come around behind him as well.

"What?" he asked hesitantly.

" _The_ Trunks Briefs?" a dark haired girl close to him asked, her eyes shining with adoration.

He nodded before he thought, his cheeks going pink. He was immediately flooded with questions. What was he doing here? Was it really him who defeated the androids? How did he do it? What classes was he taking? Did he have a girlfriend?

The young man sighed, hoping that this wouldn't be what greeted him every day of university. His eyes drifted sideways and found Kat on the edge of the crowd heading toward an old grey, stone building. He frowned.

The crowd gasped as the source of their interest suddenly disappeared into thin air.

Trunks reappeared next to Kat as she turned down a side alley. Wordlessly, she handed him the map.

*****

The day was overcast and threatened to rain but the backyard of Capsule Corp. was busy anyway. People scurried back and forth, yelling orders or moving equipment, and from amidst the chaos a gravity room was slowly beginning to form.

Vegeta sat silently, watching them from the roof of a partly collapsed building. He was extremely bored. Gokou was unable to spar because ChiChi had him doing repairs to their house, something Vegeta couldn't begrudge him after seeing the condition it was in. Gohan too, was unavailable as he was tied up all day at his dojo. His son was tied up in some project that was counting toward much of his final mark. Vegeta sighed; he wanted to spar.

"Hey!"

He lent over and looked down at the girl standing on the grass below him. "Something you wanted brat?" Vegeta asked, leaning back again.

"Yes," she answered, floating up next to him and landing without a sound.

"Well?"

She paused. "Well what? Aren't you going to rant and rave about me being 'not worth it' first?"

"No," he answered simply.

Crouching down, she eyed him. "Why not?" she asked suspiciously.

"Why should I?" he asked raising an eyebrow and turning to face her. "Do you want me to?"

The question seemed to take her by surprise. "I…no. You're very different from the other you," she stated sitting down.

"That would be because I'm me, not him," he answered. "Now, what do you want?"

The girl glanced out at the scurrying humans. "Uh…I was wondering…Gokou doesn't know much about it…" she looked down at her lap.

"Kakarott doesn't know much of anything," he retorted.

A small smile tugged at her mouth. "Yeah, well, could you teach me about us? You know? Vegeta-sei and all that?"

Vegeta was dumbstruck. "You want to know about our people?"

She nodded. "History, customs, even language. Everything really."

Vegeta fell silent and turned to look at the humans again. "Brat, you do realise that I was a child when our world was destroyed? That most of what I know comes from Nappa?"

"Which means that you still know more than I do."

"Kakarott never wanted to know."

"I'm not my brother."

"That is obvious." They lapsed into silence. "What's your name brat?" he asked turning to her once more.

She turned her dark eyes to his. "It's Kat. Son Kat."

He smirked. "Yes, Ms. Bond."

She smiled slightly. "I never knew you had a sense of humour."

"It's decidedly dark most of the time."

She looked at him thoughtfully a moment. "My parents named me Karete," she ventured.

Vegeta nodded. "A good name."

"Does it mean something?"

He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "In Saiya-go, the origin of your name meant something like Child of the Season."

"Season?" she asked. "You mean like winter and spring?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "We didn't follow the weather patterns as diligently as they do here. They would have meant either the moon season or the season of passing."

"Passing?"

Vegeta looked at the young girl. Her eyes were wide open and eager, her emotions showing clearly on her face. Once again he was struck by how different she was from her twin and from himself, while still being so much the same. Her dark eyes and spiky hair and the subtly hidden muscle in her arms spoke worlds about her heritage but her mannerisms defied all that she should have been. While quick to temper like any Saiya-jin, afterwards she would find a reason why the person pissed her off in the first place. Any normal Saiya-jin would just have held a grudge for the rest of their life and Kakarott would have forgotten about it.

Her eyes were also full of questions and for some reason that made him extremely uneasy.

"What do you know about us already?" he asked.

She shrugged. "That we were a race of blood thirsty killers who purged planets for a living. We worked under Frieza for years and when we tried to break away he destroyed everyone except for the few that escaped. Piccolo and Gohan told me a little of what happened on Namek and Trunks filled me in on the android stuff I missed. Oh, and all the Super Saiya-jin stuff of course."

Vegeta nodded. "Radditz?" he asked.

She frowned slightly. "Yeah. I'd like to have a word with him too."

He couldn't stop the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I bet you would."

They sat in silence again for a moment.

"What time do you finish with those classes of yours tomorrow?"

"Er…hang on." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small black book. She flipped it open and scanned a page. "Um…two o'clock, no, wait, three. Three o'clock. We'll be back by ten past."

_We?_ he thought. _Trunks…_ "Fine. Be here at quarter past. If you're late, the deal's off."

"Done." She grinned at him.

"What?"

"Can I call you sensei?"

He nearly fell of the roof.

*****

While Vegeta and Kat were discussing the lessons in Saiya-jin etiquette, Bulma was inside her kitchen enjoying a quiet cup of tea. She wasn't needed around to supervise the construction of the gravity room as most of her employees had, at one time or another, pieced the destroyed room back together from scratch. Most of them could do it with their eyes shut but she'd kill them if they did. So she was quietly enjoying some time to herself, contemplating how she could coax her friends over for a barbeque next week and coax Vegeta into some extra curricular activities tonight. She smiled. He probably wouldn't need all that much coaxing.

Her peace was shattered as Trunks burst into the room and made a beeline for the window. Bulma sighed. _Every time. You'd think the girl needed a bodyguard_. Pushing back from the table she went to the counter and poured another cup. Trunks was still standing at the window so she poured one for him too.

"Here," she said holding the cup under his nose. "It's camomile. It'll calm you down."

Trunks screwed up his nose at it but drank it anyway. He went back to staring out the window.

"Kat's looking nice today," Bulma commented.

Trunks blanched, the comment catching him off guard. "I…I'm not…she…" His cheeks were slowly going red.

"You know, sometimes I'd really love to know what goes on in that head of yours."

The blush spread down to his neck. "Kassan!"

Bulma grinned. It was so easy to rile him. She pushed him out of the way so she could look out the window. "Do you stalk her wherever she goes?"

"I'm not stalking her," her muttered darkly.

"No, of course not. You only follow her around every time she comes over."

"That's not…I…look, do you see what I do?" he asked grabbing her shoulders before pointing at the two figures sitting on roof.

"They're sitting on a roof."

"They're talking to each other!"

"So?"

"They aren't fighting!"

"My question hasn't changed."

"Tousan, the tousan from the other time hated her. They never got along."

"That's what's been worrying you? That Vegeta and Kat will start punching into each other?"

"In the other time, before I went back, when they sparred she ended up in the tank almost every day. He never spoke to her, just beat the crap out of her. He never even gave her a chance."

"Looks like she's getting one now. Besides, she's Saiya-jin, did you ever ask her if she hated getting beaten up?"

"No, but she used to complain all the time."

"Did she ever say, 'I wish Vegeta wouldn't do that'?"

Trunks walked away from the window and sat down at the kitchen table. "No."

"Remember the part about Saiya-jins getting stronger when they're beaten up?"

Trunks' head snapped around to look at her.

"Never thought of that, did you?" Bulma grinned.

"Gohan said she was strong when they first met but only as strong as Yamcha or Krillen. But when I met her she was already gaining on the level Vegeta was at when I first met him. She still had a way to go but she was much stronger than Gohan had described." He put his head in his hands. "I'm an idiot."

Bulma patted his shoulder. "No. You're a boy who likes a girl. There's a fine line but still a difference."

"She's only sixteen."

"She'll grow up eventually."

"By the time it'd be legal I'll be twenty-two. That's ancient!"

Bulma whacked him on the back of the head. "Hey!"

Trunks turned around and grinned at her. "Sorry. I suppose ancient is the right word for you. Maybe antique?"

He ducked before she could hit him again.

*****

Gohan sighed with contentedness as he watched his students practise their moves. He wandered around the group, some of whom were as young as four or five, correcting mistakes and giving encouragement.

He liked teaching, he found. Passing on what he knew brought a sense of satisfaction to him. He remembered when he was young and Gokou and Piccolo had been taught him. His happy countenance faded as grief for his long dead mentor flashed through him. Still, it felt right that he should pass on the knowledge of the great fighter.

A grin tugged at his mouth as he thought of what the parents might say if he tried to teach the kids ki attacks.

His thoughts were broken as Kat entered through the back door. The class chanted a hello and she waved before disappearing into the change rooms. Gohan looked at his watch. Stunned at how fast the time had flown, he dismissed the class, who chanted hello again as Trunks entered.

Gohan smiled at his first student as Kat reappeared.

"Ready to practice those meditative techniques?"

The two younger Saiya-jins nodded.

After an hour and a half of practice, they stopped for food. Kat was had half swallowed an orange when she suddenly choked and started coughing. Gohan patted her on the back.

After recovering from her coughing fit and pulling herself out of the wall, "Don't know my own strength," Gohan had said sheepishly, she had scrambled around the room, shoving her things back into her bag.

"Oh shit, oh shit, I forgot!"

Trunks looked at her in amusement. "What?"

"I made a deal with Vegeta!" she cried, stuffing a towel half in, half out of the bag. "We're supposed to be there in three minutes."

"We?" Trunks asked incredulously.

"Just shut up and hurry! I'll explain on the way!" She took off out the door.

Trunks looked at Gohan.

"You'd better get going," the dark haired Saiya-jin said. "Heaven forbid if anyone should keep Vegeta waiting."

"She's never cared what he thought before," Trunks said.

"Must be important to her then." He looked Trunks directly in the eye. "Seemed it was important that you be there too," he added pointedly.

Trunks looked back at him for a moment. "Shit," he said and raced out the door.

Gohan grinned to himself. Looks like things were finally returning to normal.

**Author's note:**

Questionable Who - thanks once again. I update when I can, it competes with work, betaing, the availability of the comp, two other fics and mind block. I think I'm doing pretty well. Keep reading I'm glad you like it.


	13. Running full pelt

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 **Another Time**

By Karete-chan 

**Chapter 13: Running Full Pelt**

To Vegeta's initial surprise it hadn't taken much to convince his son to participate in the 'lessons'. Gohan too, had also shown interest and said he would drop by when they had one, if he had time. 

After the girl had left him sitting on the roof of the shed, he had initially regretted his decision. He was Prince of his people after all, even if there were only three of them, and he shouldn't be lowered to the position of lowly teacher. But that night Trunks had come bounding up the stairs and into his study asking if what Kat had said was true. Not able to say no to the hopeful gleam in his son's eyes Vegeta had given in. 

Now, three months later he was extremely glad he hadn't. His two, sometimes three, pupils moved swiftly through their studies and were fast approaching him in terms of history and culture. They struggled with the language because it was so different from their own but they were slowly getting there. All three were now able to understand him when he spoke it, to a point. 

Right now he was giving them what Bulma had called a pop quiz. She had suggested it saying, "Just talking at them isn't teaching, you have to test them to see if they're taking it in." 

She had been right too. As he read over their shoulders, he could see several mistakes in Trunks' version of proper protocol for formal gatherings, Gohan had several dates of historical events turned around and Kat had almost mislabelled every continent on the planet. 

Vegeta sighed. They still had a long way to go. 

"Time up," he said and sat on the couch opposite them. Another thing that was annoying, whenever it was raining, the only place they had to go was the Briefs living room and then they had to put up with Bulma screaming over the phone at incompetent people, despite the fact that she was in her study, upstairs, with the door closed. 

They handed him back their tests, which he stuffed into his back pocket. They tried to hide their smiles. 

"What now, Vegeta-san?" Gohan asked. "Only I have lesson plans to make myself this afternoon." 

Vegeta shot him a dirty look. "Too bad. I've decided were going to stay on longer from now on." 

"Why? Are we bad students?" Trunks grinned at him. 

"If you were, I would never have agreed to this," Vegeta shot back. He stood up. "Follow me." 

The three younger Saiya-jins looked at each other and shrugged before following their grouchy teacher. They ended up outside the newly finished gravity room. 

"Inside," Vegeta ordered. 

They did as they were told and waited patiently while Vegeta booted the computer system and brought the gravity program on line. 

"Girl, did you use this machine in the past?" he asked with his back turned. 

"Yeah," Kat answered, as she exchanged another shrug with Trunks. 

"What level did you get up to?" 

"I can stand comfortably at eight times gravity." 

The readout flipped to eight and Trunks steadied Kat as she stagged a little. 

"I thought you said you were comfortable at eight, girl," Vegeta said, now standing in front of her. 

"I am," she answered, pushing Trunks' hand away. "I usually get some warning first, though." 

"I really do have to go, Vegeta. Why are we here?" Gohan asked, pointedly looking at his watch.

"To bring the girl up to speed." He smirked at her. "As much as she can keep up with the two of you in the academic field her physical skills are deplorable."

"Hey! They are not!"

His expression didn't change. "Compared to some maybe, but you're Saiya-jin, girl, and if your baka of a brother can get stronger than Frieza, so can you."

She looked blankly at him. "What's the point?"

Vegeta's smirk dropped. "What?"

"What's the point?" she said again, shrugging. "Frieza's dead, the androids are gone, you guys are here. Can't I just train like usual?"

The three younger Saiya-jins watched as Vegeta's eye twitched.

Gohan grinned. "She's right you know, there isn't much point. I mean, she doesn't need to be strong, she's got us." He slung an arm around Kat's shoulders.

Vegeta scowled. "She will train or I will cease her lessons." He smirked. "And pull the funding for her fancy university education."

"You can't do that!" she yelled indignantly.

He lent in toward her. "Watch me, brat."

Kat scowled. "Fine. I'll do your stupid training."

"Good." He turned back to the control panel. The readout flipped to 15 times gravity. Kat stagged and fell to her knees. "First lesson. Walking out of the room." He smirked at her as he passed. "And no helping," he called as the door swung shut behind him.

Gohan looked down at his struggling Aunt. "Well he's the sensei. I'll see you guys at eight."

"Yeah, catch," Trunks answered absently as he watched Kat try to stand.

"Bastard," she muttered.

"He does his best."

"You're no better," she growled. "Help me up."

"Oh no. I don't want to get on the bastards bad side," he answered as he strolled over and lent against the doorframe.

Kat crawled along the floor after him. "I'm so going to get you back for this."

"Heard that before."

She reached up and hit the cut-off button beside the door. The gravity returned to normal and she stood glaring at him the whole time.

"I hope that this doesn't mean you won't come tonight."

Kat pushed open the door and stepped out onto the fresh grass of Capsule Corp.'s backyard before turning and smirking at him. "I'll be there."

"I don't like that look."

"You're not supposed to."

Trunks walked past her back towards the main building. "Guess I'll just stew then."

"You do that Old Man!" she called as she took to the sky.

He turned. "You'll be seventeen soon! Then we'll see who's old!"

"Thanks for reminding me!"

"You're welcome!" he yelled at her departing back.

*****

Music blared in the background before someone dimmed the lights. Trunks could see the shining eyes and the white teeth of those who were grinning at him.

"Happy Birthday to you…"

Twenty-one candles were blown out in one breath and everyone clapped. Trunks grinned as packages were passed down the table. Some of them beautifully wrapped, some not and one he knew that had come from his father.

Because it was polite, he read the cards before anything else but they mostly said the same thing. Only his fathers seemed strange, partly because some of it was written in Saiya-go; he'd have to get him to translate properly later. He turned it upside down; one word looked like it might be 'meadow'. Gohan's and Kat's card had been funny; the little poem they'd written at the bottom explaining the joint present due to lack of funding and a very irate bank manager.

He'd never had such a fun birthday.

He glanced over at Kat and returned her grin. She sat next to Gokou who had his arm around her and ChiChi. With the snow blowing around outside the window behind them they looked like a cosy family.

His mother had given him a new sword, it had a finer blade than the last but he accepted it gracefully. Though he didn't need it he still felt better with one. Gokou and ChiChi gave him a new gi, insisting that he should train properly instead of in his usual sweatshirt and track pants. Gohan and Kat presented him with various hair accessories. He scowled at them, trying hard to ignore Kat's smug look, which just screamed 'Gotcha!' and self-consciously pushed his shoulder length ponytail back over his shoulder. In the box were ribbons, bows and some lacy clips. The two laughed uproariously then handed him a yearlong ticket to the newly opened cinema in town.

But it was Vegeta's present that he liked the most.

Though the small parcel was one of the worst wrapped things Trunks had ever seen, the round, heavy object inside moved something in him that he didn't realise was there.

"The crest of the Royal Family of Vegeta-sei," Vegeta said in reply to his son's questioning look.

Trunks looked down at the round amulet. Though cumbersome, it was finely made and he could almost feel the weight of its years. _Tousan had it all this time_. Carefully he placed it back on the soft cloth in the box and folded the lid over the top. Vegeta nodded his approval before making an excuse to get away from the 'frivolous human festivities'.

Bright light flooded the room as someone turned the lights back on and the complaints came flooding in as everyone shielded their eyes from the sudden glare.

*****

"There's cake back there, you know."

Vegeta kept staring up at the night sky as Bulma came and stood beside him.

"That was a nice thing you did," she said, laying her hand on his arm. "I know you wanted to keep it."

"This is a special day for humans, correct?" he asked, his gazed still on the distant stars.

"In a way."

"I have missed many of them. I thought that the amulet would be appropriate." He looked down at his mate. "He doesn't like it."

Bulma thought her heart would break at the sad and confused look on his face. "He loves it. Since you walked out, he takes a peek at it whenever he thinks no-one is looking." She smiled and wrapped her arms about his waist. "But he's a little confused over the card." She giggled. "Everyone is. I saw Gokou trying to read it upside down."

A ghost of a smile relaxed his features. "Did he work out what it says?"

"I don't think so. He, Gohan and Kat are trying to now. They're pretty sure one word is 'meadow' and the rest of it has something to do with, 'stealing fruit from the water monster'." Bulma grinned up at him.

Vegeta's face had gone from, slightly happy, to very amused. "I think that the brats need to do some more study. Maybe I'll have to start setting homework."

"Homework? You?" Bulma snorted. "That'll be the day."

He pulled her closer and smirked. "Oh will it? We'll see what you have to say about that when I'm through with you, onna." He leaned down and kissed her softly.

Her arms tightened around his middle.

*****

Inside, four Saiya-jins sat nursing their cake-full stomachs. ChiChi looked disapprovingly at them as her husband waved weakly.

"Really. You're all old enough to know when to stop."

Trunks raised his arms, zombie-like in front of him. "Must eat food. More food." Gohan and Kat mimicked the gesture.

"Gohan! What would you lady friend say if she saw you acting like this?" ChiChi stood, hands on hips, glaring down at her son. Across the room two sets of ears picked up.

"Lady friend?" Kat repeated.

"One with a name?" Trunks asked, craning his neck to look at his former sensei.

Gohan had turned beet red. "Thank you very much kassan," he said as he tried to sink further into the plush armchair he was occupying.

ChiChi gave her son a quizzical look. "What? It's not a secret is it? She was a perfect lady when I saw the two of you at the supermarket."

"Bet it was a secret before that," Trunks said in a very loud stage whisper.

Gohan shot him an annoyed look. "She has more manners than you two at least."

ChiChi sat down next to Gokou. "Of course she has perfect manners. I'd expect it with her upbringing."

Trunks sat forward. "Oh? Who is she?"

ChiChi drew herself up proudly. "Her name is Videl. She's the daughter of Mr. Satan and a perfect lady. She was one of the few who put every effort into hiding the refugees from the city." ChiChi sighed happily. "I always knew my Gohan would marry well."

"Kassan!" Gohan cried. "Don't jump to conclusions!"

"Mr. Satan had a daughter?" Trunks asked. He shot a sideways look at Kat who raised an eyebrow in return. Were they talking about the same Mr. Satan that they knew?

"I hope she takes after her mother," Kat muttered.

Gohan shot her a look. "I wouldn't know who she takes after. Her parents are dead."

Kat had the decency to look ashamed, but only for a moment. She shrugged. "There's a lot of that here."

Gohan growled.

"Kat!" ChiChi admonished. "That's a terrible thing to say."

Kat stood and shrugged again. "Well, it's true isn't it?" she said and walked out of the room.

"Gloomy, isn't she?" Gokou said quietly from beside ChiChi.

"She's rude is what she is," ChiChi answered. "She's almost as bad as Vegeta."

Gokou slung an arm around his wife. "Come on ChiChi, Vegeta's not that bad. You just have to get to know him."

ChiChi snorted. "Gokou, the only way I'm going to 'get to know' that man is to become a muscle-bound gorilla like the rest of you."

He grinned. "Yeah, but you like this muscle bound gorilla. And I bet Videl doesn't think that way of Gohan."

"Leave me out of this!" Gohan cried as Trunks snickered. He buried his head in his hands. "I half wish I hadn't told you now."

"But I'm your mother!"

Trunks could see that this conversation was quickly going to deteriorate into a family squabble and quietly left the room. He grinned as he entered the kitchen and helped himself to another serving of birthday cake. Then he peeled off the last of the iced lettering; the H and A from happy and ate them too.

Sitting down, he propped an elbow on the table and pulled the amulet from his jacket pocket. He put it on the table in front of him and studied it in earnest.

For something that was originally designed as a neck ornament, it was fairly large, almost the exact size of his palm. The base setting appeared white, but it was some alloy that Trunks had never seen and was buffed so much it shone. Inlaid in it were flakes of dark blue sapphire, all the same size and set in a perfect circle around the centrepiece. The shiny surface of the orange-red ruby reflected his face as he gazed down into it.

A few months ago, from the little he knew of his father's people, he would never have thought that they could make anything as fine as the amulet in front of him. He would have said that they plundered it from some planet that they had purged. Now he knew better. He knew that they had their own scientists and their own designers. That brute strength was not the only trait that ran in their blood. Of course those with other talents were few and far between compared to the amount of gifted fighters but they still existed. No society could get along on brute strength alone, not even if they did have slaves to do it for them.

_"Look at the girl," Vegeta had said, gesturing at Kat. "Her brains didn't come from reading too much. Her father was one of our top scientists. He may have been the only one but he was good." He narrowed his eyes at his son. "And you certainly didn't get all of your brains from your mother."_

Trunks picked up the amulet and put it back in his pocket, deciding that he shouldn't be hiding away in the kitchen on his birthday. He cut two more pieces of cake and left the room grinning. 

*****

Trunks found her in one of the upstairs lounge rooms sitting at the window in the dark. "Not one for parties then?" he asked, sitting down beside her on the window seat and handing her a piece of cake.

"Not one for birthdays," she answered as she turned away from staring up at the night sky to accept the proffered plate.

"Oh?" He lent back against the window frame. "Why not?" he took a bite of his own.

"Being the adopted daughter of a mythical being didn't have much leeway on things like inviting people over or having an income to pay for things." Kat sighed and lent her head against the window. "I loved the old guy but he made being a kid kinda hard." She smiled. "That must sound pathetic to you."

He shrugged. "There are different kinds of hard," he said around a mouthful of cake.

"You know, sometimes I wish that he had just let someone else find me. You know, so I could've been normal. Maybe met Gokou and Bulma earlier. We could've trained together and I bet Bulma was cool when she was younger. I could've met Radditz and helped out the others on Namek-sei."

"You consider that normal?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you?" she shot back.

He shrugged again. "If all that had happened you would have been twice my age when we met."

She looked at him sideways. "I wouldn't have been. Not quite." She turned to face him, her eyes glinting in the darkness. "What would it matter anyway? We still would have been friends."

For the first time that night Trunks' heart plummeted and this time it was he who turned away to gaze out the window. _Friends. Is that all she sees me as? A Friend?_ "Yeah, you're right," he answered softly. "A difference in age would never stop us from getting along." He hoped she got the hint.

She was grinning at him. He could see it in the reflection in the window. His heart lifted a little. "I knew I could count on you," she said, clapping him on the shoulder before getting up and wandering over to an armchair. "Anyway, I was wondering…well…uh," she paused. "Ya see, I sorta promised Gohan I'd help out at the dojo on Saturday," she scratched the back of her head, "and I was hoping you could cover for me."

"Sure, I'm not busy." Trunks didn't turn from the window but watched her reflection carefully. "Mind if I ask why?"

Her eyes went to the floor. "Uh…well, this guy sorta asked me out."

Trunks had to fight himself not to react and he was extremely grateful that he faced away from her. "Oh," he said, his voice sounding strained. He paused for a while before he answered. "Well, I hope you have good time."

An awkward silence fell between them.

"I should really get back now," Trunks said as he stood and left abruptly.

Kat stood in the dark room and stared mournfully at the door as it swung shut behind him. _Baka,_ she thought softly. _Is that all you have to say?_

**Author's Note:**

Well here we are then, getting closer ever closer. I never thought I'd say this but…maybe I'll have this finished by the end of the year…wishful thinking on my part. 

To my reviewers on FF.net: 

Liz

Carolina L 

Thankyou, your comments mean a lot to me, I glad you like it and I was iffy about this story in the beginning as well. ^_^ 


	14. Trouble in Paradise

**Another Time**

By Karete-chan

**Chapter 14: Trouble in Paradise**

Gohan hit the ground running. He dived out of the way and a ki blast flew over his head. He came up with his back to the gravity room console.

"Come on Gohan, you're not even trying," Kat called from the other side. "I almost hit you."

"Almost, being the important word there, aunty dear," Gohan laughed. "Besides why should I worry? You haven't improved any since the last time I trained with you." He ducked as she came at him from the side. The punch went wide, just missing destroying the gravity console. "You haven't upped the gravity in months and you're still moving sluggishly at this level."

She glanced sideways at the readout. It said, '30'. She scowled and floated down, her feet not making a sound as they connected with the metal floor. "If I'm so hopeless, then why are you even here?"

"Vegeta insists. Says you have to have someone different to practice with once in a while." Gohan shrugged as he flicked a switch and returned to gravity to normal. "Says he's getting sick of you not improving. At all."

"I do have other things to worry about."

Gohan smiled at her, ruffling her ponytail from his greater height. "Like what? Your job? Studies?" He counted off on his fingers. "The dojo is closed for the holidays, so your boss, me, doesn't need you around. Besides, he's seriously considering firing you for teaching the students some unnecessary words."

"Not like they needed much teaching," Kat muttered under her breath.

"Maybe," he replied and continued. "Two, you graduated two months ago, so hitting the books is no longer an excuse." He sighed and looked her in the eyes.

She glared back at him, her black irises staring straight into his, as if daring him to tell her off some more or berate her for something she just simply didn't want to do. Gohan knew she was stubborn, knew that she only went along with things so long as they suited her, like when she didn't turn up to work because she didn't feel like 'putting up with amateurs' as she phrased it. He also knew that she knew he wouldn't fire her, simply because there was no one else; Vegeta wouldn't let Trunks work and besides, he spent far too much time in his mother's lab, Vegeta himself was completely out of the question, and his father spent too much time talking to the kids. Videl would have been perfect for the job, except that she was now head of the City Council and had little enough time for him as it was.

Gohan forced his attention back on the girl in front of him. "You need to practice more. No excuses. I want to see you at 40 by the end of the week."

He watched as her eyebrow rose slightly. "40? Don't you think that's pushing it?"

He almost face-faulted. _Pushing it? We did twice that in a day when Bulma first built this thing._

She shrugged at the look on his face. "Whatever. I'll try, but I'm not making any promises." Silently she walked away from him.

He followed her to the door, then stood and watched as she made her way across the twilight lit yard to the back door of Capsule Corp.

"I still find it hard to believe that any Saiya-jin blood flows in her veins," Vegeta said, appearing from around the side of the building. "Her heart just isn't in it." The short man looked up at Gohan. "Even when you were a brat and were being smothered by that mother of yours, you still loved to fight when you could."

"But she's never known the need to fight Vegeta-san."

Vegeta snorted. "Doesn't make a difference."

"It did for me," Gohan replied, watching the downstairs lounge room light go on. "I never would've started fighting if it wasn't for Radditz."

"That's bullcrap and you know it," Vegeta spat. "If not Radditz then it just would've been somebody else. And don't try to tell me that you don't love the fight."

A ghost of a smile graced Gohan's lips. "I wouldn't dare."

* * *

Bulma heard Kat come inside muttering to herself. Smiling she shook her head and turned back to the dishes. ChiChi stood beside her, tea towel at the ready, keeping half an eye on the precariously stacked pile of clean dishes on the sink. An hour they'd been at this and they were only just making a dent in the pile.

The stereo blasted on in the lounge and presently she heard her son roaring down the stairs to 'shut the damn thing off'. Kat's reply was lost in the heavy base pounding from the speakers. Gokou came retreating into the kitchen.

"Ow," he muttered as he sat down at the kitchen table. "How come noise that loud doesn't seem to affect her?" he asked no-one in particular.

"She's your twin," ChiChi replied, "you tell us."

"I can't read her mind, ChiChi."

She turned from her dishes. "Oh? Vegeta gave the impression that you could."

"It's not telepathy," Bulma cut in, her attention on her hands that were immersed in soapy water. "It's more emphatic; feelings and such. He said they probably could if they tried it but it hardly ever works." She paused in her work and smiled. "Besides she claims she never wants anyone poking around inside her head."

ChiChi tried to suppress a giggle as a slight blush rose on her cheeks. "She's going to have some problems when she gets older then."

"Uh huh," Bulma agreed. "It's fun sometimes. She'll get used to it. Have you spoken to her about it yet?"

"Have you spoken to Trunks?" ChiChi countered.

They looked at each other for a moment, and then sighed.

"We're not Saiya-jin, it'll be different for her. Maybe Gokou could…" Bulma trailed off and glanced at her friend. He sat wide-eyed and innocent, watching their conversation intently. "Maybe not."

"Vegeta?" ChiChi suggested tentatively.

Bulma sighed. "It'll have to be. He won't like it but we can't leave her in the dark."

Gokou covered his ears as another round of ear shattering music came through from the lounge, almost covering the sound of the doorbell ringing. "Sometimes I wish we could," he muttered. "Somewhere dark and very, very quiet."

* * *

In a gap in the ear-blasting music Trunks thought he heard the doorbell ring. He paused in his writing as the music stoped and silence descended upon the upstairs study where he sat. The doorbell rang again. "Is anyone going to get that?" he yelled to the world in general.

A chorus of resounding, "No" floated up the stairs.

Sighing Trunks dropped his pen onto the old and dinted desk and trudged downstairs to answer the door. The front hallway was cold and he hopped across the freezing tiles in bare feet to stand on the slightly warmer rug that lay at the doorstep. He reached for the doorknob and as the door swung open he wished he'd left it shut. _He_ stood on the other side, his hand poised halfway to the doorbell.

"Hey Trunks," _he_ smiled at him and ran a hand through his light brown wavy hair. "Is Kat around? She said that she'd be hanging out here for most of the day." _He_ smiled, showing all his perfectly white teeth and reminded Trunks of something that, had it evolved differently, may have been distantly related to a crocodile.

Trunks forced the 'Dende-save-me' look on his face into smile. "Yeah, sure," he said and trying not to choke over his words, stepped aside. "Come on in." Trunks waited until the _guest_ in his house had walked down the hallway to the hallstand before slipping past him, muttering an excuse about finishing work. As he passed the kitchen door ChiChi appeared and made a beeline for the visitor.

"Oh, Grass, how nice to see you!" she exclaimed, wiping her hands off on the tea towel she was carrying. "We haven't seen you in ages."

"Hello ChiChi-san," Grass replied as he hung his coat and scarf on the hallstand. "I didn't expect to see you here. How have you been?"

ChiChi grinned, her black eyes sparkling. "Oh you know. Coping. But I'm always open to having another mouth to feed."

Grass' honey coloured eyes looked amused. "Is that a hint ChiChi-san?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen and nodded in greeting towards Bulma and Gokou.

"Only if you want it to be. Would you like a coffee or something?" she asked as Bulma rolled her eyes in the background.

"Tea would be good. Uh, where is Kat by the way?"

Bulma flicked the soapsuds off her hands. "Oh for heavens sake, that girl will be late for her own funeral." She walked to the door. "Kat! Get down here, you've got a visitor!" She smiled sheepishly at Grass.

"She's probably gone deaf from all that music," Gokou muttered. "I know I have."

Grass chuckled and sat down across from the spiky haired man and leant one arm on the table. "I could hear it from outside; the latest band to hit the university scene wasn't it?"

Bulma shrugged. "You'd have to ask her or Trunks, we find it hard to tell at that volume."

A door slammed and was followed by a cold draft wafting through the kitchen. Gohan and Vegeta appeared in the doorway. Gohan greeted everyone amiably and joined them at the kitchen table. The scowl on Vegeta's face was quickly replaced with a look of indifference when he spotted the visitor. He lent against the doorframe and was nearly knocked over as Kat pushed past him into the room.

"Grass!"

He broke out in to a smile when he saw her and got out of his seat to give her a hug. "Hey, I thought we could catch a movie or something."

"Sure! Just let me get my coat." She dashed into the hall, black hair flying behind her.

Grass scratched the back of his head. "Well, I guess we're going then." He looked down at the steaming cup of tea in front of him. "I'm sorry, you went to all that trouble for nothing."

Kat dashed back into the room, all rugged up. "C'mon, we'll miss the previews!"

"Okay, okay," he grinned as he let himself be dragged from the room. "Say bye to Trunks for me," he called back, before the front door slammed behind them.

"Doubt he'd appreciate it, pretty boy," Vegeta said to the general agreement of the other occupants of the Capsule Corp. kitchen.

ChiChi sighed. "He's not that bad Vegeta. He quite polite and completely agreeable."

"He's a moron," Vegeta countered.

"You think everyone is a moron."

"No, I think most people are fools, he's a special case," he scowled.

Gohan sighed. "He is a bit dull."

"Oh for Kami's sake! Can't you give anyone who isn't an alien a chance?" ChiChi cried, flinging droplets of water from her towel as she gestured wildly. "Don't you think it's nice to have someone normal around for once?"

"No," Bulma said quietly. "Not when they mess up everything."

"And who says he's messing everything up? I think the two of them make a perfectly nice couple."

"Better then Kat and Trunks?" Bulma asked and turned away from the dishes. "ChiChi, she came back here because she followed my son. And no matter how many times you ask her she'll never admit to it. He was actually happy, really happy, when he found out. I hadn't seen him that way in years and now, for the last three months, he's been moping around, all because of that…that…that all-to-nice pretty-boy!"

* * *

Trunks sighed. They were arguing about him again. He threw his pen down on the desk. It wasn't his fault. It was hers. How could someone so intelligent not know something that was under her nose?

"Stop worrying boy."

He jumped as his father's voice sounded behind him but he didn't turn around.

"I wasn't worrying," he answered, sweeping a hand through his long purple hair.

Vegeta snorted in contempt as he leant against the doorjamb and stared at the back of his son's head. "Hmph. She knows."

Trunks slowly turned to his father. "Knows what?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

Vegeta smirked, his eyes glinting. "She knows."

"Otousan, stop being so cryptic," Trunks said, frowning.

Vegeta frowned back. "You're supposed to have your mother's brains, boy." When Trunks said nothing, he continued. "She knows and it scares her."

This time Trunks threw his hands in the air. "Fine. I submit. I'm not smart enough to work out what the hell you mean. What scares her? Wait, let me make sure, we are still talking about the same person right? I…"

"Remember what I told you about mating?"

Trunks stopped in his tracks and nodded hesitantly.

Vegeta stepped away from the doorway and into the room. "The binding of mind to mind. That's what scares her. She goes places with the human because he is nothing but a friend to her. He does not threaten to change what she is."

Trunks was silent as he took this in. "How do you know that?" he asked after a moment.

"She told me," Vegeta answered simply.

Trunks had known that the relationship between his father and the girl was very different from the one between her and the other Vegeta but he had no idea that it had progressed that far.

"Aren't you going to ask me?"

"Ask what?" Trunks questioned turning away.

"About what she sees you as."

His father was more astute than he thought. "What does she see me as?" he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"No idea," his father answered as he stepped out of the room. "I asked her and she clammed up," he said as he disappeared out the door.

Trunks thunked his head against the desk. _I walked right into that one._

_

* * *

_

Gokou tapped his feet against the cold hard ground outside Capsule Corp.'s backdoor. It was nearing midnight and he had wandered up and down so many times in the snow that it was now slush upon the ground.

ChiChi and Gohan had returned home over an hour ago but he wanted to speak to Kat and so he had stayed. He was waiting out in the snow because he had clearly overstayed his welcome in Vegeta's eyes; it was funny that after three years his little sister hadn't. She called the large domed building behind him 'home', instead of the little cottage where the rest of her family lived.

Of course it was far better for her to stay here. There was no-one her age out near there little house and while she and ChiChi got along for short periods of time, you could slowly see the two of them begin to wear at each others nerves. Especially since ChiChi loved Grass so much and it was obvious that Kat did not.

Headlights appeared at the end of the driveway. The dark blue of Grass' car materialised behind them and slid to a stop outside the front door of the large domed building. Kat jumped out, lent over to say something to her conscientious driver, laughed, then stood and waved as Grass drove away.

Only then did she acknowledge his presence.

"Hey Gokou. What's up?" she asked, practically bouncing over to him.

He grinned at her. "Nothing. I was just thinking that, the whole time you've been here, we haven't really had a chance to speak."

She looked at him blankly. "I've been here almost a year and a half and you choose right now to do the father-daughter thing?" She paused. "Well, the big brother-little sister thing anyway."

He grinned again. "My timing's off a little. So how do you like it here?"

Kat shook her head. "I like it here fine niisan," she answered, hoping if she gave him simple answers he would go away faster and leave her to get some sleep.

"Not missing anyone from your original time?"

She glanced up into the face of her twin. Did he know something? "Not particularly. I did come here to get away from them remember?"

"Then why did you get all scared when I asked you?"

She stared at him outright. So that was what he was doing.

"And what about Trunks? You don't think that hanging out with Grass makes him happy do you?"

"I'll do what I please," she answered, knowing it was already too late.

He frowned at her. "If you have so much guilt over it then why do you keep doing it?"

She spun away from him and strode towards the door. "Keep out of my head Gokou."

He grabbed her arm. "I'm not in you head. And this close your emotions pour off you as plain as day."

She stopped and looked at his strong grip on her arm. She wouldn't be going anywhere until he let go. "And that's exactly what you wanted. You knew I would never tell you, so you had to use stupid Saiya-jin powers to work it out." She let out a sigh. "Kami I wish I was human."

"No you don't," Gokou shot back, a hint of amusement in his voice. Then he became serious again. "You need to stop playing games. Everyone else but you seems to know the real reason why you came here. So quit trying to fool yourself." He let her arm go.

"Since when did you become so all knowing?" she asked, still turned away from him.

"Since I found I had a little sister and I somehow know what it is she needed to hear." A rush of wind told her that he had taken to the sky. "Oh, yeah, ChiChi says come to dinner, next Friday, Videl's going to be there!" he yelled back as she turned and watched him go.

A window crashed open three floors above her. "Kakarott! How dare you wake me up you third class loser? And you, stupid girl, it's your fault for coming home so late."

Kat looked up. "Why? Worried about me?"

There was a muttered, "hmph," and the window crashed shut again.

Kat sighed again. _At least some things never change._

_

* * *

_

It had been delayed and was growing restless inside its cramped vessel. The rouge asteroid had come from nowhere and had the ship not been equipped with the latest of technology when it had first been built, would have been only so much space dust on the ring of a nearby planet.

The creature turned beady eyes on the now primitive readout. It only barely understood what the small figures on the screen were telling it. Months, it seemed, would be required to fix the damage done to the out hull when it was sideswiped. Months because the ship's repair systems were having to gather materials from passing space debris and ion rich asteroids. Unfortunately there weren't very many of them.

The scan of the solar system had revealed that their destination was close and had the necessary materials but the journey would render the ship useless before they were even half done.

So the creature sat, restless and waiting.

**Authors note: **

I'm really sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed.


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